Kuroko no Basuke: Summer Interhigh 2017 (Prototype)
by kkkdragon123
Summary: A What-if Scenario of the Summer InterHigh 2017! This takes place after the Winter Cup where the anime ends, and before the events of EXTRA GAME. STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
1. Prologue

**Prologue Chapter – The Blue Ace's Introduction**

 **"The only one who can defeat me is me."**

Aomine Daiki stood in the empty basketball court, bathed in blue moonlight. His eyes were closed, and he took a deep breath, with his grip on the basketball that he has been playing with for so long tightened. He searched within himself for the answer to the question that has plagued him since last year's Winter Cup Tournament: _What is he playing this damn game for?_

Ever since he was a child, his skills with this sport has always been exceptional, with his level at its peak two years ago in Teiko Middle School, and because of that, he was labelled as the ace of the Generation of Miracles, a basketball team for that school that possess incredible – no, unfathomable skill that could literally put most high school basketball teams to shame. However, Aomine was described as having limitless potential, even when compared to the rest of the Miracles, for his natural agility transcends the rest, and he even being profiled as a player that could literally score from anywhere on the court he wanted with his formless shots, and last but not least, having an unchanging pace and unpredictable play style that utilised street basketball skills. As such, he believed that no one could ever beat him after his talent blossomed back then, where he single-handedly crushed countless players. A true testament to his skills was that fact that he hardly practised even after coming to high school, meaning that his abilities were slightly above middle school level, and yet he could overpower strong players effortlessly. Finally, he could access the ZONE, a state of intense concentration which the "chosen" – exceptionally strong players with an intense passion for their sport – could enter whenever he willed it even though this state occurs randomly without warning. As a result, whenever he defeats people who dares challenge him, he would always say "The only one who can defeat me is me.", although deep down, even if he would not admit it due his arrogance, he truly wishes for a strong opponent.

However, everything changed last year, when he was defeated by former teammate and phantom member of the Generation of Miracles Kuroko Tetsuya, along with his Seirin's ace Kagami Taiga during the Winter Cup's first round. In that fateful game, even Aomine was truly shocked at Kagami's improvement from the previous Summer Interhigh game where he crushed him completely, and as a result, Aomine even entered ZONE to truly finally fight a "worthy opponent". It was a close game of 100-101, where Too Academy lost to Seirin High, and this was truly a wakeup call for Aomine to start practicing basketball seriously again. Ever since then, he started to practice intensely during training, which his already masterful skills continue to sharpen.

"That's right… I'm playing… to find a worthy opponent", Aomine mumbled, "Because that's what makes it truly entertaining…" Now, months later, it was time for the Summer Interhigh again, and when he saw the team matchups, he could not believe his eyes: Too Academy vs Rakuzan High, which meant he would be facing off against his former captain, Akashi Seijuuro. To be honest, even back in Teiko, Aomine could not truly identify which one of them is stronger, although it was agreed that these two players were definitely the strongest out of the Generation of Miracles. He did not see eye-to-eye with Akashi back then, due to rebellious nature and arrogant attitude, but to suddenly pitch them together, this might truly be a chance to find out who's stronger: The emperor, or the Ace.

With such an exciting thought in mind, Aomine smiled and opened his eyes. He would not leave this game to chance this time. With that, blue streaks of lightning flashed from his eyes as he agilely dribbled to the hoop, and slammed the basketball in.

* * *

 **Prologue Chapter – The Red Emperor's Introduction**

 **"Victory is everything in this world. The victory is acknowledged, and the vanquished is disavowed. Because I am victorious overall, I am always the just."**

Akashi opened his eyes. He just had a dream of his match against Seirin High last year, where he lost against them. He got up from his bed and looked at the time. "3:00 AM, huh?" He mumbled, before falling back to his pillow. Ever since he found out about his first match against former Ace of the Generation of Miracles, he could not sleep well. Was it the excitement of facing his former teammate, or something else? It's not you, a voice spoke, it's more of me, and I want to fight him. Akashi frowned, but said nothing. He knew he could not fully suppress the other "him", and because of that he felt disconcerted. He closed his eyes, although from time to time, he would keep hearing that voice over and over again.

The other "me", yes, I won't deny it, there is in fact two of us, although you probably can't tell the difference between us. It all started back in Teiko Middle School, no actually way before that. Teiko was simply the trigger for my first true interaction with the real world. Before we go any further, allow me tell you abit about myself. My name is Akashi Seijuuro, the only child of the Akashi Family. My family's motto is "Perfect is everything for an Akashi", which was strictly emphasised by my father. As a result, my childhood wasn't exactly like a child's. Back then, I would spend most of my time revising my work to achieve the perfect scores I was meant to achieve, as well as practice my violin, a "hobby" that is required when you are of a certain social position to look better in society. "Perfection…" That was my father's firm belief, and I was trapped within his grasp for a long time. Back then, my only escape from the cruel reality was basketball, something I felt I could truly better myself with as well as relieve my pent-up stress, and my mother, who was the only person I could latch onto for support. Because of her, she would often convince my father to lessen the workload, and try to make me happy whenever she could. However, everything changed when she died. I couldn't remember it much now, but I must have broke, and my reality crumbled into dust. It was got to me: the stress… the pain…, and the perfectionist attitude even got into my basketball, where a part of me would never be satisfied no matter how good I was.

Then, in Teiko Middle School, I became part of the Generation of Miracles, which made me truly happy as I could find people to mix with and be real friends with. Again, my life took a full turn then as well when in our second year, talents from different members started to blossom, in which Aomine Daiki was the first. The team started to become shaky, as the foundations that we were standing started to grow weak. We were simply getting too strong for our own good. Also, presence of members such as Haizaki, a talented but yet slacker basketball player, challenged my values on choosing between what's right and what's best. Then, an opening came before my eyes. One of the Miracles Atsushi Murasakibara challenged me to a One-on-One as he wanted to skip practices after noticing Aomine's arrogant attitude, and for the first time in my life, I was losing. Akashi Seijuuro, the perfectionist, was losing? Impossible… Never… and he cracked. So, I took my chance and came out. I had the ability "Emperor Eye", which could predict an opponent's next move by analysing their movements with extreme precision, and with it I defeated Atsushi 5-4. And then… but wait, you know the story already right? I suffered another defeat, now by a truly talented player called Kagami Taiga, and former phantom member of the Generation of Miracle Kuroko Tetsuya, and my other-self regained control. Rakuzan High lost to Seirin High at the finals, a truly regretful event. Was it perhaps Karma? For my own actions? For simply wanting Perfection? Perhaps so. But I quickly regained my motivation when I found out I would be playing against Daiki this year. After all, out of all the Generation of Miracles, he was the one that I really wanted to face. In fact, during last year's Summer Interhigh, I might have played if Daiki was playing as well, although my overwhelming team could crush them easily. Oh? I must be getting ahead of myself now, but I am really excited for the match that I could not stop bothering my other me. But until then, I guess I'd have to hold it in, huh?


	2. Chapter 1 - Practice Session

**CHAPTER 1 – Practice Session**

"Dai-Chan! Listen up, will you! This is important!" Momoi Satsuki scolded as she chased after Aomine, although he flatly ignores her. "What's your problem man? It's just Akashi…" Aomine muttered nonchalantly, but Momoi expression only grew worse.

"What do mean 'just Akashi'?!" the peach-haired manager exclaimed. "Even if you don't want to admit it, he is one of the strongest, no in fact the strongest contender in this tournament!" Aomine turned around to face her with a bored expression, looking straight down into Momoi's fierce eyes. He sighed, and then relented. "Right… go on then…"

Momoi finally smiled, and started her report. "Akashi Seijuuro, captain of Rakuzan High. His main skills are – ", "Emperor Eye, I know," Aomine interjected, and he continued, "predicts movement, and his other skill, perfect rhythm plays, which puts his teammates 90% into the ZONE."

Momoi frowned and nodded seriously, "And how are you going to deal with him? At this point, you only have ZONE," she stated flatly. "Even if you have the most control of the ZONE right now – eh, Dai-Chan!" But Aomine clearly lost interest, and quickly disappeared around the corner. Momoi sighed deeply. _How is he really going to go against Aka-kun?_

Aomine stood outside of the Too Academy Gym, his brows furrowed. Annoying, he thought, but the reality was laid bare, and he couldn't ignore it. From what he observed at last year's Winter Cup game, Akashi really isn't someone he could underestimate the slightest without risking his match. His base stats are already above average, and for a 173 cm player, he could dunk without much difficulty. If they were going to compare speed, Aomine is probably faster than Akashi. Even the Generation of Miracles agreed that no one could match Aomine in terms of agility. However, with the Emperor Eye that could predict his movements, not even he was sure whether he could outmatch Akashi in a one-on-one. However, in terms of base stats, Aomine was confident that he was better than Akashi in nearly all aspects, apart from the Emperor Eye which was the real problem.

The second issue was the ZONE. Both of them could access the ZONE, although Aomine was more skilled in entering than Akashi for sure. In the ZONE, both of their skills would improve drastically. For Aomine, his speed would almost double, and his ability to score from anywhere including behind the backboard became even more pronounced. However, the same could be said for Akashi, as his speed would also increase drastically, and he could even use it in conjunction with the Emperor Eye, making a one-on-one in that state truly a difficult situation, even with Aomine's speed. To matters worse, with Akashi's true personality, he could perform his perfect rhythm plays to induce his teammates into the almost 90% of the ZONE, and his teammates were mostly Uncrowned Kings – players which would have been labeled "Miracles" themselves if it weren't for the presence of the Teiko Players. As a result, this would surely put his team at a severe disadvantage. Aomine frowned, and sighed. He would have to find some way to overcome this obstacle if he wanted to advance past the first round.

* * *

Rakuzan High's motto was "Accomplishment in both letters and arms"; meaning exceptional performance in the aspects of studies and sports, and an exemplary example of one such student is Akashi Seijuuro, a first year and captain of the Rakuzan Basketball team. No matter the occasion, this team would always be seen practicing extremely passionately in order to maintain their position as the Champions. Even though they did experience their first loss last year, it only served to further fuel their drive to win again this year, and naturally this fire burned ever so fiercely in all the players on the court in their gym.

"Nice pass!" a deep voice shouted as Akashi smoothly passed a Rakuzan first-string player and passed it to Nebuya Eikichi, an Uncrowned King known for his monstrous strength, and he performed a two handed dunk.

"Nice one, Nebuya!" Akashi commented, "Let's try again. First-string players! Your movements are getting better no doubt; however, your coordination could definitely be better!" He said sternly. The players nodded without question and quickly shifted to their original positions.

The score was now at a 103 -20, with Akashi and the other three Uncrowned Kings against the team of first-string players. Apparently, they were still trying to find a fifth member for their team.

Akashi started with the balls in his hands, and observed his surroundings. Kotaro and Nebuya being double teamed huh, he thought as he observed the player guarding him. He sighed _, they still have so much to improve on_ , and he shifted his gaze towards the left, to which the first-string player attempted to follow, and without warning the ball already landed perfectly in Reo Mibuchi's hands. The Uncrowned King known for his shooting abilities easily made a three pointer despite two players from Kotaro and Nebuya leaving their marks to block him. It was apparent even to an elementary grade school of the difference in skill.

"Alright, let's take a break; we have been practicing for over an hour already," Akashi said serenely. "Good Job guys!"

Akashi made his way towards the water cooler, in deep thought about his current team. They were good no doubt, but he nevertheless was still worried about him fighting Aomine. After all, the one that could truly fight against him was the other "him", and using "his" skill did not suit him well. _So how's the team_ , the other voice spoke. I thought you could see it already, Akashi said to him. _But against Daiki, it'll have to be me that will fight against him, no?_ The voice pressed. Akashi frowned; it was true, the only one who might have a real chance at beating Aomine one-on-one would be the one who is the true owner of the Emperor Eye. The other him seemed to sense his unease, and simply said, _it's up to you. At this point, I'll leave it up to you. Whether you want me to play, it's your choice._ And with that, the voice faded away.

Akashi sprayed water on his face and looked up. Even though his relationship with his other self wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't exactly rocky as well. After all it's still him: Akashi. In that way, he knew he could trust him as much as the other Akashi trusted him, albeit the other Akashi might need some restraint due his more violent tendencies and obsessive compulsion for winning. Although Akashi could not truly forgive his actions, he still sympathized with him as he was simply an extension of his own feelings. As he made his way back into the gym, he thought to himself that maybe just this once, he could rely on his other self just this once.

"Guys, let's start again!" And the referee blew his whistle.

Despite being deep in thought, Akashi's basketball skills were still as masterful as ever. As soon as he found a slight opening, he took it. With that, he quickly passed to ball to Kotaro Hayama, another Uncrowned King known for his extremely fast dribbles.

"Level three is enough, I guess?" Kotaro mumbled to himself, before making his usual confident grin. From a commoner's perspective trying to follow the ball, it seemed as though the ball had disappeared, but then before one could even realize it, Kotaro would already be a few meters ahead of you, having already made three to four dribbles in that few seconds. His _lightning dribble_ skill was certainly formidable. Without much difficulty, he made a basket.

The game continued with the team dominating the first string players, but yet they were hardly complaining, for being able to play with such strong players is a privilege for them.

Reo Mibuchi received the ball from Akashi, who made his signature elbow pass. He gripped the ball and aimed at the hoop, not before noticing a first year player jumping in front of him. He smirked to himself.

"Arara~ so it's an _Earth Shot_ then?" The 188cm shooting guard said, and he took the opportunity to jump towards the first-string player. He made contact, initiating a foul, or known as foul drawing where one creates contact with the defending player to call a foul and allowing for free throws. However, the Uncrowned King took it a step further with his masterful accuracy and made a three pointer. Hence, he could easily score another free point through the free throw, dubbing his play as a _four-point play._

The referee blew his whistle, and Mibuchi easily made his free throw shot, earning his team 4 points in total.

"Beautiful shot, Mibuchi," Akashi commented, causing Mibuchi to do a mini-dance akin to a playful toddler, and affectionately call out "Thanks, Sei-Chan!"

The match continued, with the point gap increasing sharply. Before they knew it, it was already half past six. "Let's play one last time before we end this, okay?" The captain called out, and everyone nodded.

With Akashi dribbling towards the hoop, he was taken aback by the sudden appearance of three first string players in front of him. He smiled, and accepted the challenge. Akashi dribbled forward, one of them attempted a steal, but failed when Akashi made a behind the back crossover, then as he tried to advance towards the hoop, the second player raised his hands in attempt to block him. Instinctively, Akashi easily made another crossover to his right and spun around to avoid him, and then encountered the third player. Upon this, Akashi attempted to drive past him before noticing the first player from before reaching the ball from behind. At the same time, the second player was at his left, and he realized he was already nearing the side line, making it quite impossible to escape this situation. _Not bad_ , he thought, after all usually he would not allow himself to be in this position. Perhaps he was distracted from his thought of Aomine.

"Akashi!" the other Uncrowned King shouted, as the Akashi seemed to fall closer and closer out of the court.

Then, Akashi smiled and made a pass to a first string player through a small opening he found. Everyone on the court was bewildered at his action, and then suddenly the ball curved upwards towards the hoop, to which Nebuya appeared and made an alley-oop dunk, ending the game.

Everyone turned towards the space to find out the identity of the mysterious passer. Kotaro and Mibuchi smiled. Everyone else barely noticed the young man standing in the middle of the court, with grey hair, a rather skinny build, as well as empty-looking desolate eyes. Akashi walked towards him.

"Playing as an alumnus, eh?" The young man smiled.

* * *

Hours had already passed from his practice, but yet Aomine stood in the court, before the hoop. Everyone had already gone back home, except for him and Momoi. She was sitting down, observing her close friend seriously. Aomine took a deep breath, and then grabbed a basketball lying nearby. He fiddled with the ball for a while, and took on a serious stance. His face was full of concentration and focus. Sweat dripped from the contours of his arms and face.

"Now," Aomine said quietly.

His eyes flashed opened and blue streaks of lightning flashed from his eyes. Right now, he was in the ZONE. He agilely dribbled to the hoop and made a dunk, causing a loud crashing sound to echo around the empty gym. Without wasting any time, Aomine rushed to pick up another ball near the sideline, and with one swift motion, he turned around and made a one handed signature formless short, which went into the hoop easily. Aomine continued this non-stop, continuously picking up basketballs around the court and making all sorts of shots and dunks while Momoi observed him quietly. _His speed was really impressive_ , she thought, and even though she sees this kind of movement from him all the time ever since they were kids, seeing them again but in the ZONE is really something else. Apart from that, she was also really elated that Dai-Chan was practicing seriously again, after losing to Tetsuya-Kun and Kagami-Kun.

The news of his match against his former captain days ago still remained in his mind. The primary question of whether he was able to defeat Akashi kept bugging him constantly. In the ZONE, it is said that the athlete in question becomes so immersed in their play, that all unnecessary thoughts disappear, but yet even in the ZONE, when Aomine was fully concentrated on making his shots, occasional thoughts of his future battle with Akashi would make him suddenly agitated and dunk or dribble more aggressively. He made crossovers look so easily, and even without an opponent, keeping track of the ball might even be difficult for a non-basketball player due his unchanging pace and unpredictable style. Aomine dribbled and jumped past the base line. While it would seem absurd why he would do this, Aomine would defy common sense by simply throwing the ball upwards without looking and the ball would follow through in a perfect arc and land into the hoop. Clearly, it wasn't a bluff when people say he can score from anywhere he wants.

After his 50th shot, Aomine suddenly stopped and fell on his knees. His body was completely drenched in sweat and his legs were shaking. The blue streaks of lightning faded away as he exited from the ZONE, while Momoi quickly rushed to him with a bottle of sports drinks and a towel. Aomine sat on the floor completely exhausted with his legs stretched out and downed the bottle, while Momoi massaged his calves.

"How long was that?" He asked. Momoi gave him a rather gleeful look.

"8 Minutes and about 30 seconds, I think? It's about 10 seconds per shot, although there were dunks too!" Momoi said excitedly while holding up her stopwatch. "It's a record Dai-Chan! I'm really proud of you, hehe!"

Aomine however look disgruntled. So for now, his limit is 8 minutes in the ZONE? It has improved by about 2 minutes from back then when his limit was about 6 minutes during his game with Seirin High, but _is it really enough_? He thought deeply. Furthermore, for this session, he was playing by himself, and there were basketballs scattered all over the court, and after these 8 minutes, it would be unlikely that he could continue playing since his fatigue was at his peak. _It's not enough_ , Aomine concluded, _I need to actually train with an actual player…_

"Satsuki, pass me my phone," Aomine said to Momoi. Momoi gave a confused expression and passed it to him.

"What're you doing?" She asked.

"Getting a trainer," Aomine answered solemnly. He didn't want to do this, but if he really wanted to improve, he did not have much of choice. He unlocked his phone, dialed a certain number and put the phone to his ears. After a moment, the person on the other end picked up.

"Aomine-cchi?"


	3. Chapter 2 - Too Academy's Training I

**CHAPTER 2 – Too Academy's Training Part I**

The sky was a bright azure blue, with a few clouds blocking the intensely blinding sun, in addition to the heat; it was certainly the perfect weather for a picnic, but then again not everyone has the time for picnics. For athletes, no matter the weather, training takes precedence over everything else, and this mindset was no different for Aomine Daiki. Then again, for today, it was not like he had a choice in coming here to practice. He already informed Momoi that he was going out to practice with his trainer, to which she beamed happily at him (though the captain Wakamatsu was extremely suspicious of him skipping practices), and currently he was walking to the basketball court where his trainer should be waiting for him.

"Tsk…" Aomine grumbled, clearly annoyed that he had to ask this guy, but oh well, whatever helps.

A few hundred meters away, at the basketball court, a young blonde man with the looks of a perfect model that almost any girl would instantly fall for was waiting there. _Thank God the sun isn't that hot_ , he thought, feeling rather annoyed that the person that asked him here was late. However, it had been some time since their last meeting on Kuroko's Birthday, and he was really interested in meeting him. Aomine had informed a little of what they would be doing today, though he was very shocked when he heard the request over phone; after Aomine was always a loner, a solo-type, and for him to ask someone to train him must mean he was serious. He smiled to himself, and took of his uniform jacket, and folded up his sleeves. He picked up the basketball lying beside him and dribbled leisurely to the free-throw line. _Oh well, might as well practice some shooting huh_ , he thought, and just as he released the ball, a tall figure with tanned skin and dark blue suddenly dash in front of him and jumped, catching the ball in mid-air before throwing the ball into the hoop effortlessly in one swift motion. The man landed and turned towards him.

"Yo, Kise. Sorry I'm late."

* * *

Several hundred miles away, back in Too academy, the basketball team was practicing hard, even without their Ace. The team consisted of Kosuke Wakamastsu, the captain as well as the center, Ryo Sakurai, the shooting guard, Aomine Daiki, the power forward as well as their Ace, and two new members: Hirose Kazuyuki, playing the point guard, and Miyake Zeshin, playing small forward. During last year's Interhigh, Too Academy lost to Rakuzan High, although the Miracles from both schools Aomine and Akashi did not play at all. Nevertheless, Wakamatsu knows that with three Uncrowned Kings on the other team, the odds are clearly not in their favour at all, hence causing him to be stricter and more frustrated during practices. Compared to last year's team, which consisted of Shoichi Imayoshi and Yoshinori Susa, the new point guard (according to Momoi) has around the stats of Imayoshi, although he was not as cunning as the former captain. Meanwhile, Zeshin has a slightly smaller build, making him faster than Susa, although he may lack strength. That's not to say that the current players did not improve: Sakurai could formerly make safe threes as long he was confident, but with much effort, his technique has improved a greatly, while Wakamatsu has grown several centimeters and built up muscles, making him an overall stronger center. Finally, Aomine has also been making rapid improvements in his plays, most prominently in his style and pace. While the teamwork of Too may still need some work, the individual talents are definitely something not to be taken lightly.

"Oi Guys, let's go!" Wakamatsu shouted at the team, whom nodded, looking slightly intimidated.

Currently they were practicing against the first-string players, and the main focus of this game was to improve the coordination among the players. After all, they could not fully rely on the Ace during a game.

Sakurai caught the ball and prepared a three point shot, however a first string player quickly rush towards him. In a bizarre manner similar to Hyuga from Seirin High, Sakurai's usual nervous and unsure attitude would suddenly change into something much more confident. Likewise, his signature _quick release three pointers_ would be much quicker and accurate as well. "Hmph, you ain't getting this!" He said smugly, and released his shot. If a normal three pointer shot was like person throwing a baseball with an overhand, Sakurai's quick releases would be akin to a cannon aimed 45 degrees. The basketball moved to through the air with such velocity and yet still ended perfectly through the hoop. Sakurai smiled and gave an out-of-character like pout, before returning to his usual demeanor. "I – I won't let you through!" He said, as though attempting to sound intimidating to the third year guarding him, causing the latter to look confused and amused.

The ball soon fell into Kazuyuki's grip. At this point, Momoi's focus sharpened. _Time to see what this first year can do_ , she thought. Within a split second, a first string player got to him. At this moment, Kazuyuki's shoulder seemed to slacken but his pupil's clearly dilated and his irises glowed, and he could pinpoint the position of everyone near him. He had not showed this skill during tryouts, but he thought this may be a good time to show it off. As the first string player attempted a steal, he quickly made a crossover between his legs and threw the ball behind his back to the captain.

"Wakamatsu!" Kazuyuki shouted. The captain smiled, and in his passion dribbled to the opposing hoop and made dunk easily, passing two other players expertly. "Alright!" He shouted. Momoi noted these down on her notebook. Clearly, the team has improved from last year, but then again they still have much to improve. _The match is in a month, so they still have some time_ , Momoi thought, _but… their definitely improving!_ And with that, Zeshin successfully made a two-pointer.

"Yes!" Zeshin celebrated quietly to himself. "I can do this …!"

Momoi beamed at this sight. Maybe… maybe they can really do this.

* * *

"So whatcha call me out for?" Kise asked cheerfully.

"Well, I… I need you to help me train," Aomine replied grudgingly. It was awkward to do this, especially when he remembered him not helping Kise up after their match during last year's Interhigh.

Kise looked rather confused. "Huh? How am I supposed to train you? Anyway, aren't you stronger than me?" He asked smoothly, although Aomine could detect a sense of jealousy behind those words.

"You have the perfect copy, right?" Aomine said. "So—"

"—you want me to imitate Akashi's Emperor Eye with my Perfect Copy, I get it" Kise interjected coolly. Aomine looked rather irritated at this, as he could feel his face becoming slightly hotter.

"But~ Kasamatsu-senpai might scold me~ And also I have some modeling later~ I don't wanna get so sweaty~ Anyway is this how you ask someone for something Aomine-cchi~ You need to learn some matters~" Kise started complaining in his usual whiny manner, causing Aomine to burst out "Shut up!" at the last complaint. Nevertheless, Aomine mustered some courage, and reaffirmed his request. "Oi, so will you help me?"

At this instant, Kise's eyes turned slightly colder. "But why should I help you?" He asked, still with that gleeful tone.

Aomine frowned. He understood what he meant. After all, Kise does not have any reason to really help him, an enemy from another school that he might compete against. He sighed, and then said, "If you don't want to help, its fine. I won't force you then."

Kise looked rather surprised at this. He certainly did not expect such… humility from Aomine of all people. Perhaps his loss against Kuroko-cchi and Kagami-cchi did change him, huh? But Aomine disrupted his train of thought.

"Anyway, you can use this opportunity to get back at me for last year, no?" Aomine said smugly, his demeanor transitioning back to his usual self-confident self. He picked up the basketball and spun it on his finger, as though he was taunting him.

Kise smiled. "Alright…" He preferred Aomine in his usual self anyway.

"But you gotta treat me lunch or something kays~ Aomine-cchi~"

"Go to hell!"

* * *

Somewhere, far, far away, an emperor is gazing out at his throne. Akashi stood alone in the Rakuzan High, shrouded in darkness and gazing at the hoop far above him. Although he had the capacity to dunk, Akashi wasn't sure whether he could do it in his current state. The other "him" could do it effortlessly, but this made him rather uneasy. Sure, he was the point guard, which means his job is to direct the team's offense, by passing the ball to the right players at the right time, however he did sometimes wonder if with his power, he was worth something more. Most of the time, he would somehow push this thought to the back of his mind, but occasionally he would just keep pondering about. A voice inside of him spoke, _hey, would you mind if I practice a bit?_ Akashi frowned. _No_ , he thought, _I'm not letting you out again._ The voice, however, pressed him further _. Against anyone else, you may not need me, but against Daiki, you do._ When Akashi didn't respond, the voice continued, _just this once. I know my limits. I won't hurt him, but you need the Emperor Eye to face off with him._ Somehow, Akashi could sense something from the other him. Longing? Forgiveness? Regret? Maybe something like that, but he wasn't fully convinced. _I see… I understand then, maybe next time_ , the voice concluded. Akashi sighed, and felt slightly guilty. He was different from one year ago, he was not the same perfectionist as he was before, Akashi thought, and he was sure the other him could sense his thoughts. _Just maybe… huh…_

And with that, Akashi picked up a basketball and dribbled to the hoop. His cat-like slits for pupils widened and he jumped from the ground, reaching near the hoop's height, and dunked. He smiled as he landed, as though a bit of weight chained around his heart was removed, allowing him to soar the skies.

* * *

"When's your next practice?" Aomine asked lamely as he took off his jacket and strolled towards Kise.

"Umm, in two days I guess? We just practiced in the afternoon," Kise replied in his cheery tone.

"It won't affect your performance now, right?" Aomine asked, frowning a little.

"Nah, come at me with all you got. Just keep in mind Perfect Copy lasts a total of 5 minutes, we can last a maximum of 30 minutes if I use it sparingly, kay?" Kise explained.

"Heh, no problem," Aomine smirked. The feeling of facing an opponent that could be as strong as him made him excited inside. He took on his offensive stance and dribbled on the spot, while Kise took on a defensive stance.

Kise Ryota, the most versatile member of the Generation of Miracles. With an eye so observant, Kise could easily see a move, memorize it and replicate it if his body could allow it. Even back in Teiko, due to this skill of "copying", Kise excelled in almost every sport back then, although it was after seeing Aomine play basketball that made him interested in it. With this skill, Kise could easily copy many basketball moves, and in that sense stock up a whole list of moves at his disposal. Furthermore, after much training both mentally and physically, by last year's Winter Cup, Kise enhanced his copying to Perfect Copy, where he was able to adapt his style and movements to imitate moves and plays of the Generation of Miracles. As such, he is able to use these moves and even combine them to further boost their capabilities, although doing so taxes his body due to him having to compensate in many different ways to imitate the respective skills. For example, if he were to recreate Aomine's speed, though his maximum speed is not as fast, his acceleration and change of pace would be the same. As a result, such implication limits the use of Perfect Copy for a maximum of 5 minutes. Naturally, while five minutes may not seem as much, within this tiny amount, you will be at the mercy of Kise Ryota.

Without warning, Aomine started his pace: dribbling the ball on the sport at first, then suddenly switching with the other hand, and then behind his back. In an instant, he suddenly drives forward with extreme speed in an attempt to pass Kise. Naturally, Kise did not react unwell to this for he did play against Aomine before, albeit he lost. Activating his perfect copy, which causes his iris to glow, Kise used Akashi's Emperor Eye, where he used in observant eye to predict Aomine's movements with extreme accuracy.

"There!" Kise shouted, and reach his hand out to where Aomine's ball would land.

 _Impressive_ , Aomine thought. He knew of Akashi's skill, but he had never truly played against it head-on like this. He had seen this before, but it still surprised him to see Kise reacting before he even dribbled to that position. Kise's hands were inches from the ball—

But Aomine's reaction was faster. In a swift motion, he redirected the ball and made a behind the back crossover, at the same time shifting his body to drive in the other direction. However, Kise was one step ahead of him. With the Emperor Eye, his other hand instantly reached out to near Aomine's hip area where the ball would appear behind his back after bouncing off the ground. Again, Aomine was impressed, and he instinctively smiled. Using his receiving hand, he instead shifted it such that his knuckles would be facing Kise's palms, and he caught the ball in an odd angle. Wasting no unnecessary actions, he pushed the ball back and stepped back, dribbling the ball with that one hand.

Kise deactivated his Perfect Copy, causing his irises to stop glowing, and he smiled. _Not bad eh_ , he muttered. Certainly, Aomine's speed was really nothing to laugh at, for even after predicting his movements twice, Kise still could not catch up to him. It was rather amazing how this exchange took place in a total duration of less than 5 seconds. A drop of sweat trickled down Aomine's forehead. Who knew that combating the Emperor Eye would be this hard?

"Hey, it's been only like ten seconds and you're giving up?" Kise taunted. Aomine's smile widened even more.

"Heh, tell me more when you can actually catch me." Aomine replied smugly, who was still dribbling the ball. His heart was beating faster than usual. _Let's go again, shall we?_

Aomine's squinted eyes widened as he attempted to drive again. Kise's eyes flashed again, and his hand reached out, but Aomine spun around and managed to pass him, expertly crossing the ball over to his other hand at the same time, and rushed for the hoop. However, he was surprised when Kise managed to catch up to him. A slight tinge of blue faded away in his wake.

"Copying my speed, eh?" Aomine uttered. But he quickly gripped the basketball and shifted it behind his back while holding it. And then, in that position, he leaned forward, using the momentum from his dribbling, and flicked the ball towards the hoop from his back. It was one of many shots used by Aomine, although he did before while in the air against Kagami.

"Not so fast!" Kise shouted, and he jumped up with his hands straight out. As though he suddenly grew an extra 20 cm, he easily slammed the basketball down. Aomine's expression changed slightly, looking rather impressed.

"Murasakibara, eh," Aomine remarked, as Kise landed. Certainly, a one-on-one against him in his Perfect Copy state would be quite difficult when he could simply copy the skills of any of the five Miracles to respond to the situation.

Kise turned his head to face him. "Aomine-cchi, we still got some time ya know…" He muttered as his irises turned back to normal again. "You're gonna owe me ice-cream if you lose…"

To be honest, Aomine had not fully gone all out yet. At his current base form, he would estimate he was around 75%, and he still had ZONE. It has been only a minute since they started playing, and yet Aomine was already feeling that he was out of his comfort zone.

He sighed, and then said, "Sure, ice-cream to the winner. I won't… hold back anymore." _Let's try 100% now._

* * *

 ** _AUTHOR NOTES_**

 ** _Yep, this chapter was close to 3k words. For those wondering, I'm continuing Aomine's training match with Kise next chapter. It probably wont be as long I hope. Yeah, for the Too training part, I had to think up of names for the 2 new members as well as their abilities and stuff, so yea, hopefully it sounds realistic and all. As for the power levels and everything, if you people are complaining about who's stronger and all, I'm basing my writing on EXTRA GAME where it says somewhere Perfect Copy is similar to Aomine's Zone so there ya go. Hopefully stuff like power levels won't be an issue, i mean that's the point of fanfiction writing right? I'll try to just keep it as realistic as I can. If there's any comments, review it so I know what I can improve on in the later chapters! Hope u guys will enjoy my story!_**

 ** _-kkkdragon123_**


	4. Chapter 3 - Aomine Daiki vs Kise Ryota

**Chapter 3 – Aomine Daiki vs Kise Ryota**

Kise noted how Aomine's aura seemed to change all of a sudden. _He's serious_ , Kise thought, and he readied himself. Aomine stood right in front of Kise, dribbling the ball on the spot, but at the same time he gave a bored expression. Kise noted that unlike before, Aomine's body was somehow much more relaxed and much less tense now. Without looking down, Aomine unknowingly did a crossover, and then in between his legs, and while dribbling on the spot, the ball seemed to be moving at different heights. What's more shocking is that it all seemed too natural, too free-flowing, despite its difficulty, and yet Aomine looks so calm analyzing the situation in front of him.

"Left… or right…" They both thought. But Aomine seemed to have made his decision first.

Without warning, he suddenly dashed forward, leaving a trail of dust behind him. Kise activated his skill, and predicted his position the next second. His hand once again reached out for the ball, but then noticed the ball moving away from his fingers. Aomine was already close to passing him, with the ball already on the other hand. He completely caught Kise by surprise with this sudden burst of speed.

"What the—" Kise muttered, but the ball was already in the hoop. As the ball fell onto the ground, Aomine turned back to face Kise, still disturbed at the sudden change in Aomine's play style.

"Oi, Kise, stop playing around. I'm going serious, and I know you're faster than this." Aomine stated, looking somewhat disappointed at Kise.

"Heh…" Kise attempted to laugh. "Hahaha, alright then. No more bullshit…" He stated cheerfully. "Don't expect anything nice now" Kise said, still smiling, although this time the smile was more dangerous than ever.

As Aomine repositioned himself back at the free throw line, Kise started to stretch his arm, before going back into a defensive stance. This time, Kise did not deactivate his perfect copy.

"I thought you were going to use it sparingly," Aomine said.

"Since we are both going all out now, we can surely finish this in less than 30 minutes…" Kise said.

Aomine smirked and once again drove forward. This time, Kise's reaction was much faster, and his hand was already there before Aomine realized it. However, he managed to evade Kise's steal, and made a behind the back crossover. He dribbled sideways to near the side of the backboard and wasted no movements in the raising his hand out with the ball.

"Don't bother with your formless shot, Aomine-cchi!" Kise said mockingly. "I can see it!" And just as Aomine was about to release the ball, Kise was already in front of him reaching out of the ball without any warning. Aomine's eyes widened but he managed to evade Kise once again by bring the ball down in one swift motion and slowly dribbling back. He was rather taken aback at Kise's improvement of his skills, and could tell he was really going all out. In that moment, he could tell Kise had copied Akashi's Emperor Eye, his agility, and Kuroko's misdirection.

But Aomine felt a surge of excitement. _A real challenge…_

And so with that, the training match continued. Whenever a player lost control of his ball, the other player will then start with it. Aomine vs Kise, this matchup occurred last year during the Too vs Kaijo Match. It had occurred to Aomine how amusing it was when people attempted to compare the skills of individual players of the Generation of Miracles: Could Akashi win Kise? Could Murasakibara block out Aomine? _Questions like that just simply sounded too … stupid, right? I mean, in basketball, you play as a team, not as individuals, so of course you cannot just compare it like that_ , Aomine thought. Funnily enough, his last-year self would have never thought of "fighting as a team." Perhaps it was because of how he started to practice with his team more often than before.

Aomine's streetball handles were executed fluidly with rapid and unpredictable speed, but Kise's reactions were not too shabby either. Any attempts to drive pass Kise would always wind up getting blocked, and because he could copy all five skills of the Generation of Miracles, Aomine had to keep forcing himself back, and rethink of another strategy. It wasn't long before it became a game of cat and mouse, where Kise was chasing the Aomine. At one point, Aomine managed to catch Kise off-guard and made a formless shot, finally scoring his first score. Despite this, he still wasn't satisfied. After all, a year ago, both of them would keep scoring above each other, but yet now, literally nobody was scoring. This stalemate made Aomine somewhat regret not taking practice seriously last year. After a minute, Kise suddenly stopped. His irises stopped glowing.

"Alright Aomine-cchi, let's change," Kise said, slightly panting, although his face was shining with sweat despite the one minute exchange.

Aomine sighed grumpily, and threw Kise the ball. He was also sweating, although not as much as Kise. They both got into their stances.

Kise copied Aomine's speed and drove forward. Aomine wasn't exactly surprised when he witnessed his very own moves right in front of him; in fact, he was admiring how it looked from the outside rather than inside. He easily got in front of Kise, and they both knew now was the moment of truth; the very move that may or may not cause Aomine's defeat against Akashi: The Ankle Break, a speedy dribbling technique that causes the opponent to fall when their centre of gravity is on their pivot while turning. With the Emperor Eye that could easily predict the future, Akashi could easily execute the Ankle Break with absolute ease.

Kise's eyes glowed, and observed Aomine's calves. He smiled and dribbled on the spot, performing between-the-legs and behind-the-back crossovers interchangeably while swaying left and right. Aomine easily followed these movements, although he was wary of when Kise would suddenly cut back. His movements became more erratic, swaying forward and backwards as well, and then all the sudden when Aomine took a step back, Kise suddenly did cut back, causing Aomine to fall on his behind, whilst Kise easily scored a two pointer while Aomine was on the floor. For a moment, Aomine could see a shadow Akashi beside Kise, causing him to suddenly shudder. He gritted his teeth, and got back up. Even though that was the first time he experienced that, Aomine got the feeling that he might not be able to avoid that at his current state.

They got back into their positions, with Kise holding the ball. Aomine frowned. _Is he gonna try that again…_ He thought.

But Kise smirked. "My turn to score," he muttered.

His irises glowed brighter, and he jumped. Aomine's eyes widened. _This is… Midorima's high projectile three?_ He thought. This would easily ensure a score for Kise. After all, blocking a jump shot requires a lot of height and size as well, and while Aomine may have that to reject him, _he won't be fast enough to react to this_ , Kise thought. He smiled, ready to release the ball to follow the perfect trajectory, but then –

A hand suddenly reached out and hit the basketball out of Kise's palms.

"What the– ?!" Kise exclaimed.

Aomine had already reached for the ball with his speed, and took the ball. Usually, he would mock his opponent by saying "Oh, my bad. I took it 'cause you were too slow", but he decided to keep that comment to himself for now. He smiled at Kise, who looked clearly fazed at his sudden rejection. After all, he really did not expect Aomine to reach him from there.

"Wanna try again?" Aomine asked in a mocking manner, and he threw the ball at Kise without waiting for an answer.

Kise caught it with one hand, and frowned. "Alright…" He mumbled to himself. They both got back into their positions, ready for another exchange. Aomine noticed how Kise seemed to have gotten quieter, which meant he was concocting some sort of plan. After a few seconds, Kise looked up and smiled, surprising Aomine.

"Okay, let's try this again!" And Kise leapt of the ground, clearly trying to perform the same jump shot as before.

 _Midorima's three, again? Tsk_ , Aomine thought, and quickly dashed in front of Kise and jumped, reaching his hand out. Kise's feet were off the ground, which meant if he tried to land and drive, it would be a violation, which also meant that he had to score this shot or else the ball would go back to Aomine. Aomine was around the same height as Kise at the peak of his jump, and his hand was like a large hammer, ready to slam down at Kise, but he grinned. "Emperor Eye, Activate!"

"?!" Aomine's eyes widened as Kise observed Aomine's forearm. As though time had suddenly stopped, Kise observed every single muscle contractions, blood vessels, slight changes in skin tension, and predicted Aomine's hand movement. In a sweeping motion, Kise's hands shifted slightly to the left out of Aomine's path, still maintaining his pinpoint accuracy. Aomine could not stop his right arm from slamming down, while at the same time Kise released the ball. The result was that Aomine missed, contacting thin air inches before Kise's right shoulder, while he heard the basketball enter the hoop behind him, without a hint of grazing the ring. They both landed, although the emotions going through both of their minds were worlds apart.

Aomine looked down, shocked. He did not expect that at all. Not even once, despite being a street baller that uses unconventional tricks.

Kise smiled as he deactivated his eyes, and said, "What? You weren't expecting that?" And when Aomine didn't answer, he continued, "Well, if I could use it, Akashi-cchi definitely can as well ya know." Aomine looked down as his feet, thinking hard. _Damn it… This may be harder than I thought…_

"But don't sweat it haha…" Kise attempted to cheer Aomine up upon seeing his disgruntled face, although this clearly did not work.

"Oi, Kise. I'm gonna get real serious, or else I wouldn't find out anything," Aomine said seriously. It had only been three minutes, but Aomine could not take it anymore. It was clear that during those three minutes, he did not have a clear advantage against the Emperor Eye, and he was starting to get _pissed_.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kise enquired, looking rather nervous. Aomine looked up to face in the eye.

"ZONE," He muttered, "and you'll need more than just the Emperor Eye."

Kise looked slightly amazed for a moment, and then replied, "You're on."

They stood before each other, with Aomine now holding the ball. So far, an unbelievable ten minutes have passed since they started, but yet an intense battle in the aspects of the physical and mental had just taken place. The sun was shining brightly and the heat was starting to rise, although both Aomine and Kise did not notice this at all. At this moment, the intensity of their concentration and focus were nothing like before. Their surroundings seemed to grow quieter, and a gust of wind blew. They both opened their eyes.

"ZONE, Activate!" And blue streaks of lighting shot out from Aomine's eyes.

"Perfect Copy, Activate!" And Kise's irises glowed brighter than before.

The true battle between Aomine and Kise starts now.

* * *

 **Yo, a much shorter chapter at close to 2k words. It had occurred to me while writing this chapter that the entire story may possibly last longer than I thought because I thought of ways to introduce other characters and all, but at this point, while I have a main idea of how the story's gonna go, I will just leave out the side stuff for now. So, this chapter is all Aomine and Kise, and I'll finish their match next chapter and add some stuff too i guess. After that, Im probably gonna go on to Akashi's side of the story. For those of y'all wondering like when the actual match's gonna start, well jus don't expect it anytime soon cos I gonna focus on stuff like development and training that kind of stuff for now. Also, for those of y'all saying like Aomine or Akashi will surely win, again, I want to emphasise that the ending is how I would see it, so yea, hopefully not to many outrages. Jus chill while I try to reason everything out. So, yeaps. I may posting less frequently (my bad) due to exams and that kind soon, so I need to study and things like that.**

 **Oh yea, if you don't know, this is my first time writing a legit story. So, my story writing and bullshiting skills may not be so good (like deus ex machina, idk). Jus a heads up and all. Review it as always.**

 **-kkkdragon123**


	5. Chapter 4 - ZONE vs Perfect Copy

**Chapter 4 – ZONE vs Perfect Copy**

It's amusing how a simple practice match to test out the abilities of the Emperor Eye, could suddenly transition into an all-out battle between to extremely talented players utilizing their own respective fortes. Furthermore, it had only been a short ten minutes since they had met, and yet here they are, already clashing with each other head-on, with nothing held back. They stood in front of each, with Aomine holding the basketball tightly while Kise took on a defensive stance. The fated battle between these two, the rematch since last year's Interhigh that Kise yearned for ever since he lost to Aomine, was about to commence. However, this time, it isn't just Aomine's agility, and Kise's desperate attempt to copy him in attempt to defeat him, but it was two players with their abilities honed to perfection: Aomine's ZONE, and Kise's Perfect Copy. The two players readied themselves; their eyes looked blank. Aomine took a deep breath, then –

Around Japan, the battle between these two super powers could be sensed. There was certainly no scientific means to prove this "feeling", but they could all feel it: The battle between the two members behind the doors only allowed to the truly talented – The Generation of Miracles. Yes, last year, the members themselves could sense it as well, when they heard the sound of a door being forced open, the door leading into the realm of the powerful. And they were right to be wary, for that man with dark red spiky hair that was opening the doors had indeed entered this realm.

Somewhere far away, Murasakibara was busy munching on his snacks, when he suddenly turned behind, as though he felt something pricking him in the neck. He grumbled annoyingly.

Midorima, who was practicing his shots as per usual, also looked up, as though something extremely powerful was radiating energy from far away. "What's this…?"

Kagami and Kuroko, the duo from Seirin High, were at the usual burger stop with the team, and they too suddenly felt an uncomfortable sensation within them. They looked at each other, and Kagami frowned. Clearly, something, somewhere, someone maybe, was not right.

Akashi, who was in his classroom revising his work, also felt this disturbance. He closed his book as he looked out of the window solemnly. "Aomine… and Kise… huh?"

Blue sparks emitted from Aomine's eyes as he drove forward. Kise instinctively moved forward to block him, but before he realized it, Aomine had already made a cross-over dribble to keep the ball out of Kise's range, and was already reaching the hoop. Before Kise could even turn around fully, Aomine had already made a perfect dunk. He landed, with the lightning tracing his movements, and looked up to Kise.

"You're gonna have to do better than this, Kise" He said, but this time not in his usual mocking manner. Kise noted how much focus and concentration Aomine had right now, and he smirked. The dark-blue haired ace caught the basketball and dribbled back to the starting position. Kise followed and once again took his defensive stance.

Due to Kise's observant eyes that allows him to copy moves with extreme precision, he could already tell that Aomine's speed had approximately doubled, and his reflexes had dramatically become much quicker. In fact, Kise noticed that not even once did Aomine actually looked at the ball, but rather he was absolutely confident in his ball handling skills that all he was really doing was finding pathways to the hoop. That said, his ball handling movements had also become much more fluid, with the ball somehow miraculously ending up in his receiving perfectly and yet so naturally, he could transition into a crazy crossover, all these enhanced by his already monstrous speed and agility.

 _Oh man_ , Kise muttered, _this ain't gonna be easy…_ After all, during that brief exchange, Kise literally did not have any time to choose what skills he would copy, or rather by the time he copied, Aomine had passed him. As Midorima once stated, "Even if you try to predict his moves, catching him is almost impossible."

Aomine closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened at once. The blue lightning flashed, and he once again droved forward. "Now!" Kise shouted and used Akashi's Emperor Eye, and all at once he could see all the movement, contractions in Aomine's body, and for a split second, saw his next move. "There!", as Kise reached out to steal Aomine's ball, but as he looked up he noticed Aomine's bored expression that quickly changed into one of amusement. "Fast, but no enough to beat me, Kise!" He said, channeling his arrogant and mocking attitude from last year, and he slammed his ball down on the ground, causing it to bounce high in the air, and Kise to miss it by inches. However, Aomine quickly turned around flawlessly and caught the ball in the air in a split second with his other hand, and dribbled forward.

"Tsk!" Kise muttered irritably, and instantly copied both the Emperor Eye and Aomine's own agility.

He turned around in one swift motion while observing Aomine's dribbling and in the next second saw a moment in the future where he could intercept, and with his speed burst forward and reached for it. But without even looking back, Aomine sensed this, and made a between the leg crossover while dribbling forward at such a speed fluidly. The ball bounced through the small space between Aomine's calves perfectly and it fell into his receiving hand flawlessly. Kise was taken aback, but had no time to lose. With the former ace's ability, he dashed forward to chase Aomine, who still did not once look back. In the next second, Aomine was already below the hoop, but Kise, without the ball, managed to reach next to his left. He reached out his hand, but Aomine instinctively evaded him, but all of the sudden slowing down whilst dribbling, causing Kise to nearly lose his balance in front of him and step out of the base line, but he spun around and darted forward to Aomine's front, who was raising his arms to shoot the basketball. Without warning, he channeled Murasakibara's defensive abilities, and jumped, towering above Aomine, while he was still his aiming. Their eyes made contact, and Aomine suddenly smirked. In one swift motion he pulled his hands down, and dribbled past beside Kise's body and jumped out of the baseline. Kise turned his head, still in mid-air, shocked.

"This is—"

Without turning, Aomine threw the ball backwards with an extremely high arc confidently. As though in slow motion, the ball made its way above the backboard and into the hoop without grazing the ring, while both Kise and Aomine stood motionless above the ground, one shocked while the other was smugly grinning. The ball touched the ground as they both landed, and Kise looked down. He did not expect this much gap in terms of speed.

"Sorry Kise, but in this state, the only one who can beat me, is me" Aomine turned around to face him, with arrogance all over his face.

Kise's irises stopped glowing for a moment. He frowned, yes, he was really impressed by Aomine's skills, but to be able to pass him even after he was channeling three skills at once was something he considered to be inhuman. He suddenly felt a tinge of pain in his knees, the side effects on attempting multiple skills at once. It was a new extension of his Perfect Copy that he had been trying out, but at this point, despite its overwhelming power, it was more of a drawback to his overall playing than an advantage.

"Hey, you okay?" Aomine asked as he strolled towards him. Kise looked up and noticed Aomine was not in the ZONE. He also noted how much they both were sweating currently.

"Hahaha, a break maybe?" Kise closed one eye, and laughed dryly. Aomine sighed and nodded.

* * *

Aomine sat down beside Kise, who was massaging his calves. It had only been close to fifteen minutes of playtime, yet both of them were rather tired already. Aomine tossed to Kise a sports drink, drank his own. He noticed Kise was genuinely looking fatigued, and felt a bit guilty. After all, he did call him here, and today's match might affect his own future practices. Kise looked up and noticed Aomine's unusual expression.

"It's alright man, this thing will recover quickly," Kise reassured, pointing at his legs.

"So… we are gonna continue?" Aomine asked rather hesitantly, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I can continue for a while I guess, but not much I think," Kise answered, looking up at the bright blue sky. He continued, "I guess my perfect copy isn't really 'perfect' huh? I still get really tired after five minutes and all…"

Aomine noticed a slight tinge of sadness in his voice. He looked down as said, "But at least you're strong." To which Kise looked at Aomine enquiringly. "You have certainly improved loads from last year," Aomine commented. "That combo was actually quite good."

"Huh, what combo?"

"The one where used Akashi's skill, my speed and Murasakibara's blocking skill, no?"

"Ahh, that," Kise responded. "Yep, it's something I'm trying to work on right now, but it's still not that great though. I get really exhausted easily after using a few of that, ya know."

Aomine took a sip, and said, "That just means you need to work on your stamina, right?"

Kise looked surprised. In fact, Aomine-cchi had surprised him a lot today. _He has really changed eh_ , Kise thought; it feels like he has reverted back to his Teiko days before their three championships: The time where Aomine honestly loved basketball and was very passionate about it. After all, since when would Aomine give advice? Kise smiled to himself.

Aomine suddenly spoke up to his former teammate. "Kise, who do you think will win? Me or Akashi?"

Kise took a gulp of sports drink to consider his question seriously. When Aomine noticed Kise had been "drinking" for the past minute to avoid his question, he threw his own bottle at him irritably.

"Ouch! Okay okay, I'll say what I think."

Aomine looked up and faced him seriously.

"Well, from just now, I could tell you're really strong. I mean, I could barely catch up to you in the ZONE. But… from last year's Interhigh, Akashi-cchi too has the ZONE, right? Though that's his other personality, hahaha" Kise cheerfully said. But when he spoke next, his tone was much more serious than ever.

"I don't know how much our former captain has improved, but I think you could beat him." Aomine looked down again. "But—" And he looked back up again.

"Team-wise, his team is much more powerful." Kise explained. "So you got loads to improve, work on right?" He continued, returning to his cheerful demeanor.

"I haven't really been with my team lately…" Aomine mumbled under his breath, although Kise's hearing was as good as his sight.

"How's your new team, anyway?"

"Uhh, same as last year, though two our people went off," Aomine explained in a bored manner. "I heard two new guys came though, and Satsuki told me they are quite decent." He continued.

"Oh?" Kise responded excitedly. "If it's momoi-cchi, it should be accurate! Anyway how's she?"

"Oh right… same as ever I guess…" Aomine replied nonchalantly. He looked back up at the sky and observed a bird flying miles above him. "She seems happier to see me practice… and she's still as crazy about Tetsu…"

"Haha I'm not surprised…"

It certainly felt nostalgic to be talking like this again. Ever since Aomine-cchi began his rebellious streak, the Generation of Miracles hardly hung out like before. Everyone became independent and selfish, even Kise himself. But to be able to have such a normal conversation like this again, it made Kise feel happy inside.

"Hey, Aomine-cchi? Lemme I ask you something, 'kay?"

"What?"

"You used to say something along the lines of 'the only one, who can beat me, is me' didn't you?"

"Uh huh"

"So why didn't you, like err challenge someone in the Generation of Miracles? You could easily find some challenge if you challenge someone like Akashi-cchi back then." Kise asked. To be honest, this thought did cross him multiple times, and he was genuinely curious.

Aomine looked down for a while, and then finally spoke seriously. "You're right, I guess. I was looking someone I could fight with; after all, I was too strong for my own good and I was crushing everyone's morale left and right."

"But, I guess it's because… I'm looking for a player that… is my equal… that plays the same position as me, you know?" Aomine confessed, after choosing his words with careful consideration. Kise's eyes widened. "It wouldn't be right if I challenge Akashi, a point guard, as a power forward, or Murasakibara, a center, I guess? It's weird."

Kise quickly pointed at himself, trying to get Aomine's attention, but Aomine quickly said, "Oh, and I didn't challenge you 'cuz you still suck back then."

"How mean!"

 _So that's why Aomine-cchi didn't really have any interest in basketball till a player like Kagami-cchi came along huh? A power forward, an equal to Aomine-cchi… It makes sense_ , Kise thought.

"I mean, you're also right in another way. Like, in terms of pure skill, if I wanted to, I should have challenged Akashi I guess but –"

"Aomine-cchi, you have changed, haven't you?" Kise interjected.

"Huh?"

"Skill-wise and attitude-wise, I mean. I could tell your control of the ZONE and your streetballing has improved a lot, eh? And you clearly have been practicing ever since Kagami-cchi came, haven't you?"

Aomine didn't say anything for a moment, then spoke, "yeah…" And he turned to face his former team mate. "After all, I can't afford to lose anybody anymore." Aomine declared.

"I see, then." Kise said, with some feelings of relief in his heart. He put down his bottle, and stood up. They had rested for about 10 minutes already, and the pain in his knees had somewhat subsided. "Let's go for like two more rounds?" He asked cheerfully.

"Heh, sure." Aomine nodded smugly.

* * *

They once again stood in their positions. This time, Kise had the ball, while Aomine would be defending. Aomine and Kise activated their respective skills.

"ZONE, activate!" And blue streaks of lightning once again flashed from Aomine's pupils.

"Perfect Copy, activate!" And Kise's golden irises lit up once again.

Kise dribbled the ball on the spot, while Aomine lowered himself, preparing himself for whatever moves he would attempt. _Animal Instinct_ , Kise thought, that's right, Aomine-cchi was one of the few players he knew along with Kagami-cchi that had this ability. Rather, it was more of a trait than ability, and with it, he does not only rely on his sight, but all his senses, just like an animal, to predict and react to any moves made. While it would seem like more a "simple uncommon trait", having this animal instinct to react instinctively enhances the player's skills drastically, especially in areas where they could not think consciously.

 _How I proceed…_ Kise thought. He smirked, and copied his Emperor Eye, and Aomine's agility. This combination is common and Kise often uses these skills in conjunction, but their effect is extremely lethal. He drove forward, and Aomine instantly reacted to his first step. He darted forward to Kise's forward in attempt to block him. Kise smiled, and then did a behind the back crossover, before doing it in conjunction with a mix of crossovers and dribbling techniques, enhanced with Aomine's own change of pace and speed. Aomine, however did not move, but instead observed him slowly, while still in his stance. Then all of a sudden, his eyes widened, and he reached out for the ball.

" _Emperor Eye!_ "

Kise was fast enough to cut back, causing Aomine to miss, but what surprised him was that Aomine instantly darted back to his original position and stance, literally leaving neither room nor time for Kise to drive past him. He smiled, and dribbled on the spot. Clearly, Aomine in the ZONE was different from his usual self. _But, he won't be able to stop this_ —!

Using his Emperor Eye and Aomine's pace, Kise quickly repeated his technique from before: dribbling on the spot, while shift left and right. And then, in a split second, he slowed his tempo for a fraction of second. For normal basketball players, trying to steal despite the slowdown would be almost impossible, but Aomine was never a "normal" basketball player. Using his animal instincts, he immediately took his chance and reached out for the ball. Kise smirked, expecting this and quickly made a behind-the-back crossover, but this time, he shifted the position of his receiving hand slightly backwards. As a result, stealing the ball would be much easier due to the extra space, which Aomine immediately noticed and reached out. Again, Kise quickly moved backwards out of Aomine's range, causing him to almost fumble. _It's working…_ Kise thought. Aomine once again returned to his former position. This exchange was extremely tensely to watch; every move is deliberate, and will affect the next.

Kise once again dribbled on the spot. He was starting to feel some pain in his knees again, but he ignored it. Without warning, he shifted his body and attempted formless shot, to which Aomine instantly darted forward and raised his hands. However, his legs did not leave the ground, and he quickly pulled his arm down and attempted to drive past the former Ace. But, Aomine was too fast as he quickly spun around and attempted another steal. With his emperor eye, Kise barely dodged it, and made a between-the-leg crossover, and again, Aomine leaned forward to reach out to him. Once again, Kise predicted this and bounced the ball back to his other hand before Aomine could get to him. Hence, it soon became like a game of cat and mouse, and Aomine endlessly attempted to get the ball, while Kise did the opposite. Then, all of a sudden, as the dark-blue haired Ace moved sideways to block the Blonde Ace, Kise grinned. He cut back without any sign, causing Aomine to lose balance. As he attempted a layup, the ball was suddenly deflected from his hands.

"What the—" Kise muttered as he landed. Aomine had somehow intercepted him even after being ankle-broken.

Aomine seemed to read Kise's mind, and said "No… You barely got me… I noticed my center of gravity and shifted accordingly…"

Kise's shocked expression changed into a smile, as he did not expect Aomine to be able to counter the Ankle Break dribble. However, he soon felt the pain in his knees grow worse. Aomine noticed his legs shaking.

"Alright… Let's stop this, you need some rest," Aomine said.

"Thanks… haha" Kise laughed nervously as he walked to the benches to get his bag.

Aomine walked towards him with the basketball in his hands, and said, "Your form…" and Kise looked up with a curious expression.

"Your perfect copy, right now the only thing that is hindering it is your stamina…" Aomine commented. "If you can further hone your copying… I have a feeling you can be as strong as me…"

Kise laughed. "Aomine-cchi, you serious? I'm just copying, yours is the legitimate ZONE, you know…" He said, but Aomine shook his head. "You think so? I'm not so sure… After all, your improvement exceeds mine…"

"Your Perfect Copy ain't complete yet, from what I see anyway… give it a few more months and I'm sure you'll be able to master it…" Aomine concluded.

They quickly took their bags and left the area. In the end, they ended up playing for about thirty minutes anyway. Kise smiled to himself at this thought. Either way, he was rather glad to play against Aomine-cchi again.

"Oh yeah, so who won today?" Aomine asked lamely. Kise gulped.

"Me, right? So it means you owe me Ice Cream…" Aomine continued, smiling like a villain.

This truly reminded him of back in the days when he, Aomine-cchi, Kuroko-cchi, Midorima-cchi, Momoi-cchi and Murasakibara-chhi once hanged out and ate ice cream together in a convenience store. What happened that day was really memorable: When a theft occurred, and the Generation of Miracles literally used their basketball skills to apprehend the thief. _Those were some good times…_

Kise's darted towards Aomine as they strolled past a poster with a team of pro basketball players apparently from America called "Jabberwock", although neither of them took notice of it.

 _Yeah, he's changed alright_ , he thought as he observed Aomine yawning lazily. But again, the thought of the Perfect Copy winning against the ZONE seemed improbable to him, _even if Aomine-cchi says otherwise… Maybe, one day I can get my own ZONE too, huh? Then, I'll be really strong then…_

* * *

 **Wooo, here's the conclusion to the epic battle! A whole 3.5K word chapter, crazy long I know, longer than I expected anyway. I must apologise for the shit ending between Kise's and Aomine's battle, cos it would be much much longer if I dragged out their battle, which I didn't really want to. So yea, here's chapter 4. Next chapter will be on Akashi, and his life I guess? Im planning to get him to meet another GOM, although I doubt any actual basketball playing will be happening, but hey i don't know, things may change, right? Next chapter might not come out in a while though, because my exams is really around the corner. I guess that's all then. Review and comment and like or favourite whatever, as usual.**

 **-kkkdragon123**


	6. Chapter 5 - The White Emperor

**CHAPTER 5 - The White Emperor**

A few days ago, during practice, Akashi was informed by Mibuchi of a certain talented player.

"Is that so?" Akashi turned to face the shooting guard, while picking up the basketballs scattered across the floor.

"Yep, I heard he's really strong," Mibuchi said nonchantly, casually shooting a three into the basket. "Maybe Sei-Chan will find him interesting, I guess."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well… I heard rumors that he could…", and Mibuchi's voice softened, "predict movements like you do." Akashi raised his eyebrows. _Emperor Eye? Here, in Japan?_ After all, he never really did consider anyone else other than him having this ability. The red-haired captain's interest piqued.

"Where do I find him?" he enquired.

"Well, I heard he plays streetball, and he's literally dominating lots of guys, but if you wanna find him, he usually plays at … …"

* * *

And with that, the minute the school bell rang, Akashi quickly went outside and changed into his casual sports attire, and immediately headed towards the basketball court. If anything at all, he had nothing to lose by visiting this "player", and moreover, he could possibly learn how to better use his own Emperor Eye, although he wasn't exactly sure how he could improve it any further. _What's this? Another guy with an Emperor Eye?_ The other Akashi spoke out. _Yeah, I'm going to see what he can do_ , Akashi replied silently. _Then, shouldn't you let me out? After all I am the rightful owner_ , the voice continued. Akashi didn't respond for a moment, and then sighed. _Depends_ , he relented, and the voice faded away.

When he arrived, there was already a crowd gathered, seemingly watching a match. Quietly, Akashi managed to shuffle himself forward to get a closer look. From what he could see (trying to see past all the 180~190cm players), two teams, red and blue, were playing, but what attracted his attention was a young man with completely white hair, as pristine as snow, sitting at the side. Akashi noticed that the red team was definitely stronger as compared to the blue team, as their coordination and speed were on a different league from the blue team, and within several seconds, red players would already score, while the blue players could hardly catch up. He noted that the red team may even prove to be challenging even for Rakuzan, although he concluded that Rakuzan would eventually win them as the score gap would eventually grow wider anyway.

"Excuse me, but what's the score now?" Akashi asked a player beside him.

"Uhh if I'm not wrong, 32-18, red to blue" the guy replied nonchalantly before focusing back on the game.

 _At this rate, the blue team is bound to lose…_ Akashi thought. At this point, one of the blue players suddenly called for a time out. It appears that one of them wanted a switch, and from what he gathered, anyone that wants to play could simply join if they wanted to, although given the monstrous strength of the red team, no one on court would dare participate. The red players started laughing among themselves while consuming refreshments.

"Hey… can someone switch…?" the blue player asked weakly. He was clearly exhausted, and the other members were starting to lose morale. However, no one responded.

"Hey…"

"I'll go," the young man with white hair stood up and took the blue sash from the player. He put it on and beckoned to the red team. "Ha! Is this guy serious?" One of the red players exclaimed mockingly, and the others laughed. The young man's white coloured eyes glowed in excitement, and he smiled.

"Let's go"

The man started at the base line, with his hands holding the basketball tightly. For some reason, Akashi could not figure out this strange man. To others, it is said that Akashi's aura was likened to an emperor; intimidating and powerful, but to Akashi himself, this man's aura feels like an archangel's radiance. He did not give off any sign of power, fierceness, the usual signs of any basketball player, but rather he was like Kuroko, gentle, quiet, except this guy seems to be hiding a lot of his talent within himself. His white eyes looked unnaturally dazed, but he scanned the court with intense concentration.

He mumbled to himself, then without warning shot the ball at a blue player. The other players quickly rushed to their positions, but most of the failed to notice how perfectly the ball landed in that player's palms. The white haired man quickly moved in position as well, while the blue player quickly dribbled forward before quickly being blocked off by a larger red player. He quickly made a side pass to the player beside him, who then quickly pushed on forward. At this point, it does seem like the game was starting to be in the blue team's favor, as within seconds the ball had already made its way near the three-point line, but clearly things did not go as expected. Out of nowhere, a red player flicked the ball out of the blue player's hands and stole it rather easily.

"HAHAHA! This is mine!" the red player roared, and he easily outruns the other red players behind him. "This point is mine – What the?!"

The young man appeared in front of him without warning, with a defensive stance ready. The red player brows furrowed, and he attempted to break past him.

"Try this—"

Akashi's eyes widened. The moment the red player's foot stepped into his opponent's boundaries, within a split second, the ball fell out of his hands without any warning. The crowd's cheers suddenly became silent, as though they were trying to comprehend what had happened, while the red player too was at loss for words. However, the white haired man did not bother to wait as he caught the ball and dribbled without any interruptions. As the red player who regained his composure attempted to stop him, the man made the same movements as Akashi did. By fluidly making crossovers behind his back and between his legs at an extremely fast rate, his opponent attempted to follow the ball and shifted his legs accordingly, and thus, his centre of gravity as well. The moment the red player's weight was on his pivot leg, the man's white eyes widened and he cut back, causing the red player to fall dramatically on his back. By the next few seconds, the ball was already in the hoop. The entire crowd remained silent, and then roared into applause.

"Woah, did you see that?!"

"What a sick move!"

"Hey, isn't that the famous ankle breaker? That guy just did it!"

Akashi frowned. From that one exchange, he could already tell this man has an emperor eye of some sort. His timing was impossibly perfect; to be able to cut back and react instantly is definitely no human feat. As the crowd cheered, the match continued, although both red and blue players looked disoriented at what just occurred, whereas the young man simply strolled back to his position, looking as unfocused as ever.

Akashi tapped the guy's shoulder beside him again. "Hey, do you know who that guy is?" he asked, pointing at the other wielder of the emperor eye.

"Ohh, yeah, I heard his name is Hisoka Shiro… Been around here for some time it seems" the guy explained. "I think he's about 20 plus years old…"

 _Huh, is that so…_ Akashi thought, which meant that this man would not be in the Interhigh or Winter Cup during Akashi's own high school years. It would certainly be a sight to see two emperor eye users in the competition, or even better, fighting against the other Generation of Miracles.

The match continued, with the blue team steadily winning back points. Within twenty minutes, the score miraculously shot up to 37-40, with the blue team in the lead. In that period, Akashi observed Shiro's movements, and noticed that his skills were very refined, backed up with lots of self-confidence to be able to handle to basketball as he did. Akashi also counted literally 14 ankle breaks, and at almost every instance, he would use his emperor eye to counter the red players. At this point, the red players were not so much exhausted, but rather completely demoralized, as they knew any further attempts to challenge to Shiro would surely end up in flames.

"Hey, anyone wanna play?" One of the red players asked the crowd, although obviously no one responded. After all, if they couldn't beat Shiro, who else can?

"I will," Akashi spoke out.

Everybody turned around to look at who was the foolish challenger, although they naturally made way for him as he strolled towards the basketball court. He put his bags down, and put on the red sash received from the red player. Despite his shorter stature compared to the rest of the players on the court, he still commanded obedience from both friends and foes alike. Shiro observed him quietly, and then grabbed the ball and walked to the central-line, to which Akashi followed suit.

"Hey… Isn't that Rakuzan High's Akashi Seijuuro?" The crowd mumbled.

"Hey… yeah… you're right…"

The crowd grew steadily louder and louder. Before long, cheers erupted, and people started chatting loudly among themselves.

"Hey Akashi-kun! Can you beat that guy?"

"I heard he's really strong right?"

"The captain of the Generation of Miracles, no doubt he'll beat that guy to the ground…"

"But that guy is no joke too…"

When they both arrived at the central round, Shiro and Akashi stood face to face with each other. Akashi noted that Shiro was slightly taller than he was, perhaps about 178cm, meaning he would theoretically be at a disadvantage in a one-on-one. Shiro passed him the ball.

"You go first?" He spoke above the crowd. Akashi nodded and accepted the basketball. As both of them strolled back, they both knew in their hearts that their opponents were not someone to be trifled with.

Before the match continued, Akashi commented to his team, "The previous guy was a Point Guard, right? So you won't mind if I take that position, right?" The red players looked slightly startled but most of them simply nodded nervously. "Then let's start." And the crowd quickly silence themselves.

The impromptu referee blew his whistle to signal the start of a new round. Akashi started from the base line and passed the ball to one of the red players. The player caught it perfectly, looking slightly intimidated; After all, playing together with the legendary point guard of the Generation of Miracles is certainly an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The player started slowly, dribbling at his own pace, while the rest of players shifted accordingly, moving swiftly and guarding. Akashi quickly took note of the current formation on the court and noticed that two of the blue players were running to guard him, the other two blue players guarded against two other red players. Meanwhile, Shiro did not bother to guard the remaining red player, but simply lingered near the paint, observing every movement.

One of the red players managed to break off from the blue player's defense, and instinctively caught the ball when the red player with the basketball saw the chance. The blue players quickly shifted accordingly, while the other two blues focused their defense on Akashi, taking periodic glances at the ball. Noticing this, without warning, Akashi swiftly slipped out of their sight into an open space near the paint.

"Akashi-kun!" The red player shouted as he passed the ball to him. Akashi easily caught it with a single hand as he scanned the court.

Time seemed to slow down, as Akashi's irises shifted and his cat-like slits for pupils widened. His position currently near the three point line, and inches away was Shiro, still standing there lamely. Near the wings on this side of the court were pairs of red and blue players, both trying to break off their opponents, and a free red player is shifting near the paint. Concurrently, the two blue players were running towards him. A drop of sweat trickled down his neck.

In a fluid motion, his hand that received the ball went round behind his back and he shot the ball towards the free red player, who just arrived at that exact position. The two blue players have just arrived in time to miss the ball as they turned to see the ball land perfectly in the red player's palms.

"What the-?!"

"Huh?" the red player said, as the ball fell into his hands. He didn't call for it, but yet the ball fell right there, at the perfect angle and speed. All at once, his confidence skyrocketed, and he went for a two-pointer, which of course succeeded.

There was a moment of silence as the crowd tried to comprehend that quick exchange, and then they roared and cheered.

"Woah!"

"Did you see that?!"

"Damn… What just happened…?"

Both blue and red players gaped at Akashi as they returned back to their positions. After all, the red player that made the shot hardly succeeded at making any shots at all, even if he was just below the hoop. Shiro's eyes widened for a moment, and he mumbled something to himself. The points shifted to 39-40.

 _Not doing anything yet…_ Akashi thought quietly to himself as he observed Shiro. He was serious just now, but yet did not do anything the moment Akashi came on the court, buthis attention perked up as Shiro suddenly did some stretches and warm-ups on the spot. All at once , he was like a different person that before.

"Akashi-kun?" He called out. Akashi turned his head to face him, and their eyes met once again.

"I saw your moves just now… your expression, how you decide where and when to pass the ball…" He smiled and said cheerfully, "You are really the perfect point guard that I've heard, eh?" However, Akashi remained silent and kept his expression stoic. _All from a single exchange?_ Akashi thought.

"But… I've already seen through you, with these eyes…" His expression changed slightly, looking more malevolent than ever. Shiro's snow white eyes glowed, and his smile widened.

"I don't understand what you mean," Akashi replied coldly, causing Shiro to raise his eyebrow, albeit looking insulted rather than confused.

"If you are referring to my point guarding skills, then of course," the emperor continued to the plebian, "the court is like a battlefield, and as a tactician, I must know everything about the court, the positions, the strengths and weaknesses of the players, and make the right decisions to claim victory."

"Is that so?" Shiro smirked at Akashi's analogy, "then how have you won all your battles so easily?"

"…"

"I've seen your matches before, Akashi Seijuuro, even back when you're in the middle school, your court awareness was that of a prodigy, but I noticed something in you spiked up after your 3rd year and during the Winter Cup," Shiro continued, "And consider me impressed, because I had a suspicion."

Akashi's eyes narrowed.

"About your analogy of the battlefield, tell me, what happens if the soldiers become too strong, such that the general could not control them?"

"The general becomes a demon. He becomes so powerful and destructive, that he could instantly turn the tide of any battle, a skill so overwhelming that the soldiers would have to, no, MUST submit to him unconditionally, all for the sake of keeping the army together, to win the war. But when the war ends, what happens next? The soldiers leave and they build armies of their own, and challenge their former master."

"…"

"But even then, they can't win against him, because by then they realize how the general had been winning the wars, or rather, the enemies' loss was already decided when they face him." Shiro continued, "However, the general realizes the destructive potential of possessing such a skill, so he hides it within himself, and pretends to be tactician, still assisting in winning the wars."

Akashi didn't say anything. After all, everything he said was true; after the winter cup, Akashi did not exactly play an active role as an ace like in the Winter Cup, but rather, he now just focuses on his role as a point guard. In fact, he had not used the Emperor Eye for a while now, and he wasn't sure he would want to use them now too. Even if he wanted to, his usage of it was extremely limited since the "owner" of this skill was not him, but the "other Akashi", and using them would not making the both of them comfortable. He realized his how naïve his previous thought of "two emperor eye users clashing" was when he could not even pluck the courage to use it.

"As a general myself, I want to see the skill of other generals, you know," Shiro said, "After all they are rare."

 _You want to use it, don't you?_ The voice asked, and truthfully, Akashi does. After all, he came here with the intention of learning more about the Emperor Eye and this mysterious player, and it would not suit him if he did not go all out against another user of the Emperor Eye. He heard the voice sigh. _If you want to use it, go ahead, it's your choice, but trust me, if you want to use it seriously, it will have to be me_ , the voice continued, causing Akashi to remain hesitant.

Shiro noticed this somewhat and sighed. "Oh well, this is really disappointing…" reverting back to his reserved self and turning back. "So much for a general…"

Akashi looked down and felt a tinge of regret, and the voice said irritably, _idiot…_

However, a hand rested on the Akashi's shoulders, causing him to turn his head in the midst of his emotional moment. Akashi's eyes widened.

"How 'bout taking on the soldier instead?" the person asked loudly, and rather rudely, causing Shiro to turn around and immediately gaped at the young man's impressive height.

"Kagami… Taiga?"

* * *

 **Hey, kkkdragon123 here, so yeah, my apologies for the one month break due to exams and all, but it's over so life's slightly less stressful now haha. For this chapter like I said will focus on Akashi, and i know i said there probably won't be any basketball playing, but I felt that Akashi should also have a sort of improvement in his skills, hence the new guy with Emperor eye and all. Also, yep, Kagami is teaming up with Akashi! So it will be Kagami and Akashi vs Shiro for next chapter. Oh yea, and im not sure whether i need to explain this, but Akashi doesn't want to use his emperor eye due to the events of winter cup and he knows how violent his other self could be, hence his reluctance (despite wanting to use it to fight Shiro). So this match should end next chapter, and you know, ill add some Akashi moments in too, and i'll probably add in just one more event (i think) before the actual interhigh, where the GOM meets and plays against each other and all, so i can also write about the others too haha**

 **SO that's about it. Comment and Review and all, and hopefully I'll see you sooon (I'm still busy... my bad)**


	7. Chapter 6 - Tiger, Snake & White Dragon

**CHAPTER 6 – Tiger, Snake & White Dragon**

"Kagami… Taiga?"

There was a short pause, as Kagami looked smugly at Shiro as if to savor his epic moment of grand badassery: The sunlight shone down on him, shadowing his eyes, as if he was posing in some sort of Hollywood movie where there would be a low angle of shot of him right now, while he looked down as his new enemy. However, Shiro easily broke his moment when his startled expression upon seeing Kagami's height quickly transition into one of pure confusion.

"Umm… who is this man?" Shiro asked nervously, pointing at Kagami.

 _Ding_ , as though someone just rang a bell counter. Kagami's wild look became even more rigid as a trickle of sweat rolled down his forehead in the moment of silence. He quickly flinched, when he realized how much better his moment played out in his head.

"Ah! Err… Right! My name is… Err… Kagami Taiga!" Kagami said coarsely, trying to sound as though nothing had happened. He quickly turned his head back to look at the red players, and called out, "Hey! You… err mind if I joined your game?" to which one of the red players whom looked exhausted nodded his head. They were obviously intimidated by Kagami's presence, despite being only slightly shorter than him, although apart of from basketball players, having a height like that is uncommon. Kagami swiftly regained his composure and he turned to face Akashi, whom still looked disoriented.

"Yo," Kagami smirked, and he turned his attention to Shiro, whose soft expression quickly hardened, losing all trace of his former cowardice.

"What are you doing here?" Akashi asked, slowly returning to his usual calm manner of speaking. Kagami shrugged his shoulders amusingly.

"What's wrong? I used to play streetball back in America too ya know," he said, "And I heard of this real strong player, so I wanna test him out," pointing at Shiro. For some reason, Kagami's presence and casual way of speaking managed to calm Akashi down, and he was glad of it.

Akashi smiled. "Then prepare yourself, Kagami-kun, this guy is stronger than you think."

"Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way!" Kagami's grin widened and the fire in his eyes grew bigger than ever. He put down his bag and took of his Seirin coat, and then took the red sash from one of the players, who gave it to him without any question. Certainly, Kagami's 193cm height made him look rather imposing and intimidating. As he made his way to the court, the crowd started muttering and mumbling about the new player.

"Hey, who's that guy…?"

"Isn't that Kagami Taiga?"

"The jumper?! Whoa…"

"I heard he could reach way above the backboard…"

"Seriously?! That's crazy…"

Kagami couldn't help but feel the pit of excitement exploding in his stomach right now. Currently, he will be playing against a crazy strong guy, which from what he noticed, has a similar playing style to Akashi, but even more so, he would be playing with his former opponent Akashi Seijuuro. From what he recalled, Akashi was literally one of the strongest players he had faced, up there along with Aomine, but unlike Aomine, Akashi was radically different in his own way. In the case of Aomine, when they were both in the ZONE back then in the Winter Cup, Kagami could feel the overwhelming power of Aomine as he struggled and pushed to keep up with the Generation of Miracle's Ace, he could also sense a certain feeling of fun during their battle: they were playing to win, and neither wanted to give up; and they were going all out, with zero intentions of losing, and in its own way, there was _fun_. However, with Akashi, or rather the other Akashi back then, there was no sense of _fun_ , as all he wanted to do was to crush whoever that does not "obey" him. It was like a "good vs evil" kind of scenario, where Kagami was fighting to win without any desire to enjoy it, which was a first for him since he had always enjoyed battling any sort of opponents. Furthermore, unlike Aomine, he wasn't simply fighting an Ace, but rather the entire Rakuzan High, which consisted of extremely strong players too, and them being further enhanced with the normal Akashi's Perfect Rhythm Plays really made things difficult. But right now, that same Akashi is playing together with him? Kagami couldn't wait.

The other red players looked in awe as Kagami approached them. Two Aces on their team, one of the school that won the Winter Cup, and another which won the 2nd place, as well as known for being one of the oldest powerhouse schools; seriously, how could they lose? Kagami went over and shook hands with all of them, and his firm grip assured them greatly, as though a large animal was guarding them. As Kagami moved to Akashi, the red players also noted how potent both of their auras are: For Kagami, his red aura was gushing out fiercely and wildly with passion, as though ready to take on any challenge, whereas for Akashi, it felt as though his darkish red aura was like steam, slowly rising from his body; unlike Kagami, Akashi's aura felt cool and calculated, reptilian-like compared to Kagami's mammalian-like aura, but nevertheless extremely overwhelming as well.

As Kagami approached Akashi, the latter quickly asked him about the game. "Did you see the match just now?" He asked, while observing Shiro, who was discussing with his blue teammates.

"Hmm, kinda. I came when the blue team was scoring their 35th point or something," Kagami replied.

"Then you must have noticed too," Akashi continued sternly, "that man also has an emperor eye." Kagami looked down in surprise.

"Seriously? I mean I knew he was fast and all, and he plays like you but what are the odds of another Emperor Eye user on this court…" Kagami mumbled in surprise.

"Actually… It is unlikely I will be using my Emperor Eye at all…" Akashi said, avoiding Kagami's eyes.

"Huh? Why?"

"It's because there is a risk I will let the other me out, and I have not fully reconciled with him yet," Akashi confessed. He noticed that he himself felt uneasy when he said this to Kagami, despite trying as much as possible to hide this.

"Oh well, then I guess I won't be seeing much of that, huh?" Kagami smiled nonchalantly and made his way to his position. Akashi's eyes widened. He had expected Kagami to look disappointed or something similar, but yet he did not care? And without noticing, he smiled to himself, and moved to his position.

A few twenty meters away, the blue players started positioning themselves. Initially, they all wanted to Shiro to start with the ball, but he declined. They all noted that he felt different from before, and that his aura was also starting to show. If Kagami and Akashi were likened to a fierce tiger and a cool snake respectively, Shiro was that of a sleeping white dragon that was about to awaken from its millennia of slumber. The crowd's noise started to softened and the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of a new set. Currently, the point from red to blue is 39-40, and Shiro did not have any intention of letting them win.

The blue player passed the ball to another player, and they started moving. The red players moved accordingly, adopting the man-to-man defense strategy. Kagami and Akashi moved in accordingly, and marked their respective players. However before one of their red players could guard the blue player with the ball, he quickly passed the basketball to Shiro, whom easily slipped out of his defender's guard and caught the ball. In an instant, he sped forward and already reached the half court line, with the other red players attempting to catch up. Shiro smiled to himself, _too slow_ , he thought, but then was caught off guard when Kagami suddenly appeared in front of him with his hands spread out. It was as though an imposing giant had suddenly materialized in front of him.

 _When did he appear?_ Shiro thought. _No matter, I can get pass him easily…_

 _Bring it on!_ Kagami thought.

Shiro's eyes glowed brightly, and in a fraction of a second, every single movement right in front of him could be seen; the muscle contractions, the blood flowing… All at once, and from that he could see a blurred version of his opponent moving from its original position, in all direction. He could move left, right, diagonally in either direction, move backwards… Shiro considered all the possibilities and looked even further into his own visions to predict the future. The blurred images all at once converged into a single being that moved to his right, and Shiro smirked to himself. Time flowed back to normal, and Shiro made a crossover to his right, to which Kagami too shifted as he predicted, but without warning, he cut back to the left just right when all of Kagami's weight was on his left foot, causing Kagami to fall to his left sideways, and on his back, looking shocked. Despite experiencing the ankle break move more than a few times by both Akashi and Aomine, he could never really overcome the moment of fright and shock. Shiro's paused for a moment in his dribbling and made eye contact with Kagami, before quickly dribbling forward. He quickly drove through a red player by once again predicting his moves, and made a layup effortlessly.

The crowd roared at this sight, while Shiro stood below the hoop with his right arm still rose as the ball fell onto ground, as though trying to admire and appreciate the moment. Kagami's double brows furrowed, as he got up, while Akashi, who was near the three-point line simply stood their silently. Shiro then caught the ball and threw it over to Kagami, who caught it single-handedly.

"It's your possession now, right?" Shiro gave an innocent smile, while making his way back, causing Kagami to become extremely irritated. _He's fast, and the Emperor Eye is no joke…_ he thought, and he instantly knew that if he held back against him, it would be an instant loss for him in a one-on-one. It had only been the first basket, but Kagami was extremely tempted to go into the ZONE now, despite knowing the consequences of using the ZONE this early in the game. He clicked his tongue irritably and moved back to his starting position, as Akashi watched.

The referee blew his whistle once again, and the red player passed the ball to another player. As Akashi noted, the pacing of the game currently was much faster as compared to before he was playing, and undoubtedly, it would spike up once again with Kagami. The red player dribbled for some ways, before passing to Akashi, who caught the ball easily. He noticed Kagami with a blue player, near the half court line, ready to receive the ball. The other players shifted restlessly, and a blue player attempted to screen him. Meanwhile, Shiro stood near the paint, unguarded. In a fluid motion, he dribbled forward, and easily passed the blue player by doing a couple of complex crossovers, and threw the ball to an unguarded player, who dribbled all the way to the three point line. At this moment, Kagami suddenly felt a rush of cold air in the direction of Shiro, and the entire landscape seemed to darken in a hue of blackish purple, and the snowy haired player darted forward without any warning. In a split second as the ball was in the motion of bouncing off the ground, Shiro's frosty eyes glowed as he grinned.

Calculating the position of the basketball or player in the next second was an easy task with his Emperor Eye, but actually executing the move is definitely no easy feat, especially if the action that you predict occurs in a very short timeframe like in a fraction of a second. However, with Shiro's natural agility, he easily lowered and body and flicked the ball just before it contacted the red player's palms. All at once, the landscape seemed to return to normal, as Shiro is caught the ball and left the red player's blank expression at his wake.

 _This is Kuroko-?!_ Kagami screamed furiously in his mind. After all, while Shiro's movements do resemble Akashi, the steal that he executed just now was exactly the same as Kuroko's, more specifically back last year during their practice match against Kaijo when Kuroko stole the first ball from Kasamatsu, although Shiro's movements were more fluid and precise. Without anytime to think, he quickly brushed past his defenders back to the red's paint along with Akashi, whereas the other players took a full second to regain their senses and react. However, upon reaching the wing, Shiro was already near the free-throw line.

 _Shit! I won't make it!_ Kagami's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth. However, before the White Emperor could make it further, he was stopped by appearance of his red-headed counterpart.

"You won't get any further," Akashi commanded him, but Shiro's expression turned even more malicious.

"You seriously think a commoner like you can win against an Emperor Eye user like me? Dream on," Shiro whispered. His eyes glowed, and he instantly perceived the movements of Akashi's legs. He quickly regained his motion, and made a crossover to his left, to which Akashi instantly noticed and reached out for the ball. However, his cat-like pupils widened when Shiro caught the ball, and spun around in one fluid motion, easily passing Akashi. During that one short moment of shock, Shiro's glowing eyes narrowed as he leaned in and whispered to Akashi. "It feels different when you can't predict anything right? That's right, learn your place, and appreciate how lucky we are to have these eyes…" Akashi stood at his position in shock, as Shiro's distance from him grew wider and wider. _What did he say?_ – But before he knew it, he quickly turned around to see Shiro already right below the hoop. He grinned, and threw the ball up for a layup, and while in mid-air muttered, "You lose… Akashi…"

However, a huge shadow suddenly loomed over Shiro, causing him to look up in awe. Even though Shiro himself was in mid-air, Kagami near the front of the hoop, was at least over a meter higher than he was, allowing him to easily reach the ball that was about to enter the hoop. The crowd held their breath.

"Don't say…" – As Kagami's left palm reached the ball – "… that you have…" – his hands contacted the basketball – "…WON YET!" Kagami screamed at the top of his lungs as he rejected the ball down to the paint with all his might.

The crowd roared even louder than before as Kagami landed, with Shiro's mouth wide opened. Akashi wasted no time and swiftly caught the ball, looking visibly impressed: It seems that Kagami's jump height has once again improved, and it was maddeningly impressive for basketball players to even jump that height. Kagami's red fierce eyes made contact with Shiro's briefly as he glared at him, before quickly following Akashi. Despite this, it only took Shiro a full second to regain his composure and quickly sprinted back to his half of the court, his white hair flowing smoothly with the wind. While running, Shiro couldn't help but feel upset and annoyed at what just transpired. _How can he jump so high…!_

As Akashi noticed two blue players running to guard him when he reached the half-court line, he quickly scanned the court and found the super Ace from Seirin catching up to him from behind. He smiled, and quickly shifted his direction slightly to right, causing the blue players to foolishly leave a small opening in the middle of the court.

"Kagami!" Akashi called out, and he flicked the ball behind his back towards him, who caught it easily.

 _Alright, let's keep this up!_ Kagami thought to himself. After all, thanks to Akashi, even if there is a small opening, he could easily take the ball directly to the hoop. He quickly sped up and dribbled even more intensely, grinning, passing the two blue players instantly. For a second, Kagami's eyes met Akashi, and they both smiled. It seems Akashi's perfect rhythm plays really did work in sync with Kagami's aggressive play style. All at once, Kagami felt something powerful rising in his chest. However, he was stunned by the appearance of Shiro, who managed to catch up to him at the paint, and he held his arms apart. At this point, there was no trace of laziness or cowardice in Shiro's expression, instead, his eyes glared fiercely at Kagami with zero intention of stopping him. _Its fine_ , Kagami thought to himself, in fact, it's even better this way. He would rather face the true power of Shiro with all he got, and it suited him.

Without bothering to stop, Kagami instead brushed off all unnecessary feelings and instead took Shiro head-on, looking clearly unfazed. The crowd seemed to hold their breath at the current match-off: Kagami vs Shiro.

 _You may the will, but it's not enough—Emperor Eye!_ Shiro's glowed once again to signal the use of his magnificent eyes. Time seemed to slow down and the landscape darkened like before once again, as he observed every single muscle contractions and twitching his legs, as well as Kagami's to determine his direction. There was some distance between him and Kagami, and therefore could easily plan his next move to counter against him. He observed his hands, his dribbling – _it seems he is going to charge forward? It means a lay-up or dunk then, which I can easily stop. He could also pass… no, there's nobody near him at the moment from what I can see… and it doesn't look like he has any intention of passing anyway…_ Kagami's foot stomped the ground in slow motion, and Shiro readied himself, but yet despite him being able to defend against Kagami, he could not help but feel uneasy. Then, something sparked in his mind as he observed Kagami's toned calves. _Legs… Strength… Jump…_ as he remembered how he rejected him, _a dunk, yes, but with that jumping power…_ And his irises shifted to the space between him and Kagami: there was some space, but he was almost one step from free-throw line. _Dunk… no…_ He had not accounted for this, and this space which he purposely put to prepare himself would be his downfall. _… Lane up –?!_ Time seemed to flow back to normal with such sudden forcefulness as Shiro's consciousness returned to the plane of reality, and Kagami's right foot touched the free-throw line. Shiro's eyes widened in shock and unbelievably, fear.

"TAKE THIS SHIROO!" Kagami shouted and he jumped, with the dust and air being blown away from the impact. Kagami's height in mid-air grew increasingly larger, and Shiro had to take this chance. With all his might, Shiro took flight in attempt to defend the hoop, but as expectedly, despite his overall skills, with his height, he could never fully reach the basketball at Kagami's height. Before he knew it, he was already falling whereas Kagami was still ascending, reaching the hoop. In a single breath, he jammed the ball into the hoop and made a perfect single-handed lane up.

The crowd was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend what had happened. Akashi stood there, smiling, as he was clearly even more impressed at the visual impact of Kagami's lane up. The sound of the ball being jammed into the hoop resonated throughout the court as the crowd held their breath, and Shiro landed on his back, his expression a mixture of awe and shock. As Kagami landed, the court roared even louder than before. After all, seeing a dunk from the super Jumper from afar during the Winter Cup was already impressive enough, but seeing it up close like this on a streetball court was nothing short of perfection and pure bliss. In his grandeur moment of epicness, Kagami looked at Shiro, who returned him with an expression of pure awe. At this point, he was more excited than upset at his loss, but felt something in him burning. He looked away trying to hide his smile. Meanwhile, Kagami quickly made his way back to his starting position, and bumped into Akashi, who shocked him when he complemented his score.

"Nice dunk, Kagami," Akashi commented serenely before moving back to his position. Kagami somewhat blushed, as to be complemented by the captain of the Generation of Miracles was truly an honor. Due to this, the points once again shifted to 41-40, red to blue. Amazingly, despite this being Akashi's third turnover, and Kagami's second turnover, the entire exchange truly felt like ages.

The sky started to darkened somewhat, with clouds starting to arrive above them. As the players once again took their positions, Kagami and Akashi noticed something about Shiro, who stood there lamely like before, although this time, his aura was quite different from before. He looked at the red hair duo, and said to them seriously, "You guys are stronger than I thought… Guess I'm more motivated than ever huh…" Kagami and Akashi frowned. They knew that at this point, the real match would begin, and readied themselves.

The referee blew his whistle, and the blue team started. To be honest, at this point, the other players that were not on par with the skills of Shiro, Kagami or Akashi, really did not matter to anyone anymore. In fact, even the players themselves along with the crowd were more interested in seeing the red-haired duo battle the white-haired soloist. The match soon continued with the points slowly rising, although albeit slowly; it often ends with Shiro battling against Kagami assisted by Akashi, though Akashi didn't score most of the points. However, the Emperor Eye still proved to be too much for duo, and it usually ended with Shiro winning in the battle of the Aces. Furthermore, at this point in time, Shiro was starting to play more seriously and aggressively, putting the red players at a severe disadvantage when he easily ankle broke three consecutive players. In fact, the ways for the red team to score is to somehow isolate or distract Shiro so that Kagami could score, and this was dependent on Akashi's point guard skills; even an Emperor Eye user can't teleport or guard two players at once. In a span of over fifteen minutes full of crossovers, ankle breaks, dunks and complex passes, the points rose to 50-51, red to blue, in a tight battle where neither players would allow each other to score. Currently, it was the red team's turn to start the ball, and by this time, there were several changes to the players on both teams due to being unable to cope with the extremely fast and aggressive play. Kagami and Akashi were already sweating profusely, although neither of them felt like backing down.

"Damn… just who is that guy…?" Kagami panted audibly.

"I'm not sure… his play style and skills seem to be reminiscent of the Generation of Miracles… He is definitely nowhere below that…" Akashi replied.

The sky started to darken even more and there were some faint sounds of thunder. After some consideration, Kagami was sure he could continue for another 10 minutes before passing out. At this point in time, the crowd grew even larger than before to witness such an incredible game, and he would not be surprised if Kuroko or Hyuga heard about his match. Since he had only some time left, he was thinking of going into the ZONE to truly test his abilities against Shiro; after all, having able to fight such a strong opponent along with Akashi was more than enough motivation to enter to the state of the ZONE, and moreover, this match would not go anywhere if they remained like this.

Akashi placed his hands on Kagami's shoulder, causing him to turn around.

"I know what you're thinking, and personally…" Akashi said. _What, he's probably going to tell me to conserve my energy at this point in time?_ Kagami thought lazily to himself and rolled his eyes. "No, you should go all out." Kagami's eyes widened, and Akashi smiled.

"What?! You serious?" Kagami snapped. Even if he actually wanted to go into the ZONE, actually hearing the words coming out of Akashi's mouth felt incredulous.

"Very. With this guy, it's unlikely to battle him fairly without you being in the ZONE. Your capabilities cannot match him now on a one-on-one after all," causing Kagami too utter a "tsk" while looking annoyed. "But don't worry, If I lend you my strength, I'm sure we can defeat him with my Perfect Rhythm Plays even without my Emperor Eye," Akashi continued. "Anyway, I too want to his the full extent of his abilities, and we both can feel the end of this game nearing, so there's not a need to conserve your energy anyway."

Kagami smiled, and then closed his eyes, and channeled his inner thoughts: his will and desire to defeat the new enemy before him right now… An image of him standing in front of a large decorated door appeared in his consciousness. Kagami opened his eyes and widened his eyes in the surrounding darkness. He placed his right hand on the smooth surface of the door that felt like it would not ever budge, and then pushed it, focusing on his previous thoughts. It still would not budge, and Kagami closed his eyes once again and concentrated even harder. _He may not be my friend, but right now he's a fellow comrade, and with his help, I can…_ The door budged slightly. _No… It's not whether I can… It's I WILL…!_ Kagami opened his eyes and pushed the door resolutely, which opened and bright reddish orange light flowed from the opening.

Red streaks of lightning flowed out from his now blank looking red eyes, causing Shiro to take notice of him, frowning. Akashi on the other hand, who was standing beside him, smiled. Kagami's voice sounded much calmer but retained the same intensity as before.

"Let's do this… Shiro…"

* * *

 **Hey guys, back with another chapter. This chapter was about 4.5k words, longest so far, and for some reason it took me a long time to write. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to make chapters longer in the future so ya guys will have more content to read and all. I'm also thinking of doing some remaking of my previous chapters if I have the time to make them longer or maybe combine them due to 1) length, well some I felt may be too short for a chapter (1~2k plus words), and 2) continuity errors, which i realise do exist in my chapters when 1 character suddenly teleports and disappears here and there. So maybe in the future I'll do that, and hence change the chapter numbers and names accordingly and also try and add content where I can.**

 **This chapter was about Kagami and Akashi vs Shiro, and I'll end the battle next chapter, as I've planned some Akashi moments (sorry not really much this chapter) and all. I'll try to keep it entertaining, and I honestly hope you guys enjoy the story (apart from the shitty writing...). As I've said, there's probably one more event before I move on to the actual Interhigh, and I'm actually considering writing other teams like Yosen or Shutoku so there's that. And that's about it I guess. About the frequency of chapters, I try my best to make a chapter every week, but it probably will be longer cause I'm real busy studying and all.**

 **COMMENT RATE REVIEW so i know what I can improve or maybe add suggestions!**

 **-kkkdragon123**


	8. Chapter 7 - Akashi's Reawakening

**CHAPTER 7 - Akashi's Reawakening**

"ZONE…?" Shiro muttered to himself. He had heard of the term before, but he had never truly seen someone in the ZONE in real life before. Indeed, he was impressed; It was as though Kagami had become an entirely different beast, where unlike before, his wildness did not diminish, but on the contrary had been tucked away inside of him. It was unnerving to see someone like this in front of him.

"Let's start…" Kagami said slowly, as he reached his starting position. It had been some time since Kagami last entered the ZONE, as a matter of fact; the last time he went into the ZONE seriously was during his match against Rakuzan High during the Winter Cup. However, he did practice in the ZONE whenever he could to improve his stamina, but for most of the time, entering would usually end in failure unless he was playing a real match with a very strong opponent.

The crowd held their breath, for if anything, this match was one to be remembered. Even the people could sense that the real battle will begin soon; there was something different about the air, perhaps the tension and the heaviness of it. The sky slowly grew darker and darker, but hardly anyone took notice. Once everyone got into their positions, Akashi started the ball rolling. He passed the ball to a red player, who dribbled forward nervously, clearly wary of Kagami, who immediately went forward to mark Shiro. The rest of the players did not seem to be concerned with marking each other, but instead was more focused on the three Aces on the court. Akashi quickly shuffled forward near the half court line, observing Kagami and Shiro.

"What's this… You're clearly different from just now…" Shiro said to Kagami who standing in front of him. He noted how calm he looked, but yet felt so irritated just by looking at him.

"I'm gonna be opponent… so deal with it, yeah?" Kagami grunted, causing Shiro to utter a "tsk".

As if on cue, the red players quickly passed the basketball to Kagami, who easily caught it. Shiro instantly took on a defensive while Kagami dribbled on the spot, the red lighting slowly leaking out of his eyes. He knew that his skills were not on par with players like Aomine or Akashi in a one-on-one, but in the ZONE, he felt oddly confident; he had faced the Emperor Eye skill before when he battled Akashi, and to be honest, he never truly won against it by himself even with the assistance of the ZONE. In fact, it was with Kuroko's Quasi Emperor Eye that allowed the duo to defeat Akashi, and it would have never been possible in a one-on-one unless you had an Emperor Eye yourself. Even then, the thought of facing an Emperor Eye made Kagami excited inside.

"Bring it on! Shiro!" Kagami shouted.

He made a crossover to his left hand. Shiro's eyes glowed instantly, observing Kagami's every movement. His muscle contractions, changes in skin tension, where his eyes were looking, all these information compiled in less than a fraction of a second, and with it, he saw a rough image of the basketball in the air inches before Kagami's left palm. _Too easy_ , Shiro smirked, and reached out for the ball. In an instant, the entire scene changed into monotone, with Kagami's outline in red, and Shiro's outline in white.

Shiro moved his arm in; the ball was on the ground, while Kagami's eyes observed Shiro.

His arm moved in closer to the ball; the ball rebounded, and was inches of the ground in the direction of Kagami's left palm.

Shiro's fingers was inches from the basketball; Kagami's own fingers were too inches from it.

All at once, as though Shiro had touched an extremely fragile mirror in front of him, the image of Kagami receiving the ball suddenly cracked as though a picture of him was framed on a piece of glass in front of him. Shiro's eyes widened as the crack grew larger and light glowed from within. All at once, the entire scene flashed back into reality, and Kagami had already caught the ball and spun around to the left of Shiro, with the flash of lightning tracing his movements. Shiro's hands were still at the same position, and his eyes widened, clearly fazed and taken aback from what had happened. The crowd cheered at the sight of this.

"Woahh! Kagami's ZONE is faster than Shiro's Emperor Eye?!"

Kagami smiled as he quickly dribbled forward to the hoop, having a heard a similar comment during the Winter Cup. He took a fast break to the hoop, and once he reached the free throw line, took a tremendous amount of effort and jumped. Shiro turned back and gaped at the height of Kagami's jump. _What the hell are you trying to do from the free throw line?!_ He thought, but yet he somehow knew that Kagami was not going to fail this shot. He went higher and higher, like a bird, but even non-basketball players from the side could tell that with such height, he was moving vertically upwards more than moving horizontally to the hoop, alas not reach the hoop: there was simply not enough distance. But this had never deterred Kagami from scoring. As red lightning flowed out from his pupils, Kagami's eyes widened as he slowly reached the hoop that look miles away. He palmed the ball with his right hand and raised it, aiming for the hoop. He wasn't going to miss this, after all the amount of practice and effort that he put into this specific move ensured that almost no one would ever be able to stop it. His biceps and triceps flexed and his grip tightened, and as Kagami reached the peak of his jump, his upper body already above the hoop, he took a deep breath. Akashi, at the half court line, noted how exquisite the form looked and he smiled. _So that's Kagami's signature move huh…_ He smiled to himself. Kagami's pupils widened and the intensity of the red lighting increased sharply. All at once, he slammed the ball into the hoop instead of actually dunking, leaving a trail of air and dust in its wake, and the sound of the ball being jammed into the hoop resonated throughout the court, even louder than the dunk he performed before. The crowd held their breath and time seemed to stop as everyone admired Kagami's form high up in the air. He exhaled as the lightning followed his aerial movements. The ball dramatically fell onto the ground and nobody spoke. _Kagami's signature move… The Meteor Jam!_

The crowd roared once again as Kagami landed, and both the red and blue players gaped at Kagami. They all knew of an Ace from Seirin High that could jump really high, but the full extent of his jumping prowess through the Meteor Jam was simply unbelievable.

 _What the hell_ , Shiro gritted his teeth. The power he had just witnessed was way above what he had expected. At that moment, he had already considered most of his options: With the Emperor Eye, he could easily battle Akashi and Kagami, albeit they had to pass out of his range, but in the ZONE, Kagami's physical prowess was a league above his. He had to admit he was beneath Akashi in terms of his use of the Emperor Eye, as even if he could predict Kagami in a one-on-one; his ZONE speed could easily avoid him. Even then, with Akashi's pass courses, it was unlikely he could catch up to Kagami. But, he still had not used his full power yet: he was only using a fraction of his Emperor Eye power, and he would not hide it anymore.

Kagami walked back dramatically back to his side of the court, but met face to face with Shiro.

"Looks like you're serious, Kagami-kun, you even avoid my Emperor Eye…" Shiro commented, his voice deeper compared to just now.

"Yeah, with this I'll beat your ass!" Kagami said firmly, before continuing his way. He added as he passed Shiro, who looked back, "Anyway, if we are comparing your Emperor Eye, the one Akashi had back in the Winter Cup was much more powerful." Shiro smiled angrily as he walked back.

The blue players started once again. _My speed may be slower than Kagami's or maybe even Akashi's, but I can compensate that_ , Shiro thought as he dribbled the ball and he saw Kagami rushing forward to mark him. He took in a deep breath, and then tweaked his movements: he quickly dashed forward, making crossovers at a red player who came to defend him. As the player attempted a steal, he fluidly picked the ball up using the momentum of the bounce to smoothly evade the red player's hands and back a behind-the-back crossover, and smoothly passed him without a break in his flow. Upon reaching another red player, activated his emperor eye. His eyes glowed and he noticed a blue player near the sideline unguarded, as well as Akashi proceeding behind him. Using his left hand, he quickly made a pass to the blue player, who caught it perfectly surprised, causing the red player to be stunned for a second. However, in that short frame of time, Shiro had already passed him, and the blue player instinctively passed the ball back to him, whom he caught it with his right hand at chest level. At this junction, he met Kagami, whom took a defense stance while breathing heavily; his animal spirit aura was so potent that Shiro could feel its intensity. He also noted how large Kagami's sphere of defense is, such that it would not even matter if he approached from the sides or not.

"You won't get pass me, Shiro!" Kagami uttered fiercely as the red electricity crackled in his eyes.

"Hmm, you overestimate yourself, for someone that could not truly beat the Emperor Eye on his own," Shiro spat menacingly. He was about two meters from Kagami, and though that might look like a short distance, in terms of predicting and planning where to move, that distance could potentially change the outcome of a one-on-one.

"Emperor Eye…! Activate!" Shiro uttered and strained his eyes. _Kagami would move closer, his right foot would land there, and I can break him here_. Shiro instantly made crossovers in between his legs, timing it perfectly to synchronize with Kagami's movement subtlety. As expected, while trying to follow the ball, when Kagami landed on his right foot, his body had shifted slightly to the right and all it took was a cross over to the left to cause his foot to shift positions and push all of his weight to his right.

"Stay down," Shiro commanded. Kagami's eyes widened as he fell to his right. This was completely different from the Emperor Eye battle he had just now. What shocked him the most was the time in between activating his Emperor Eye and actually performing the crossovers: It was far longer as compared to what Akashi did, which can only mean that the prediction he made was to look even further into the future, more than Akashi by about a second or two. While it may not seem much, an athlete sprinting at full speed could easily cover over three to five metres in two seconds, let alone a ZONE user. But yet Kagami did not falter despite this new information, but smiled instead, for Akashi suddenly approached from behind, his hands reaching out in between Shiro's legs and his receiving hand.

"Careless, Shiro-kun. The Emperor Eye can only predict the future movements of one person, and with your speed, you will be defeated by a simple trick like this." Akashi commented. He took had noted of Shiro's long prediction time, another aspect of the Emperor Eye that he did not actually take note till now.

"Is that so?" Shiro's eyes focused on Akashi. Akashi's eyes widened as he noticed Shiro's still-glowing eyes. _The Emperor Eye is still active?!_

Instead of receiving the ball, Shiro instead pulled his receiving hand in and shifted his legs accordingly. The ball was instead deflected onto the floor, and into the small space that Shiro had created and landed perfectly into his other hand. As a result, Akashi missed the ball, and his momentum caused him to fall on his front, barely injuring himself by cushioning the impact with his palms. The red emperor looked to see Shiro's mocking face before he quickly dribbled forward and made a layup, earning his team two points. Akashi gritted his teeth, after all, he had just realized that the man in front of him probably had more knowledge about the Emperor Eye that he has. He didn't even know it was possible to predict more than one person at the same time.

 _How careless of me…_ Akashi thought. He retrieved the basketball and returned to his side of the court once again. The sky grew even darker, and small pellets of rain started dropping.

"He… got us again, huh?" Kagami asked Akashi.

"It seems so… He had knowledge on the Emperor Eye that I don't even know about…" Akashi confessed.

"What?! You serious?" Kagami snapped. He thought Akashi's Emperor Eye was powerful enough as it is, but to know that there is even more to it than meets the eye, is just inhuman.

"Yeah…"

"Oi, remind again why can't you use your Emperor Eye? I mean you even used it last year after you regained your real self," Kagami asked again.

"Like I said… I'm afraid the other me will come out," Akashi replied, looking disconcerted. To repeat that fact would be like reinforce how he could not come to terms with his other self, and it did not feel very comfortable.

"… Well…" Kagami said, "I'm just saying when I faced you last year, it took the combination of me and Kuroko's own Emperor Eye to take you down."

Akashi looked at him.

"And now here, we are faced with another Emperor Eye user, and we do not have anything to counter him with, and the fact that we are using long passes and feints to get pass Shiro probably won't last forever." Kagami continued, and Akashi looked down guiltily, knowing Kagami was going to say.

"If we really want to beat him, through and through, we may need the Emperor Eye again," Kagami said resolutely. He knew that if Akashi actually did regain the use of his Emperor Eye, if he faced him again with the Emperor Eye, he might have just caused his team's victory in future matches with Rakuzan High. Kagami sighed at the thought of Hyuga's or Riko's possible rage, but then again he would never want to play against someone half-assed, or someone against him half-assed.

"I don't know about what happened between you and him, apart from the shit he did to me last year," Kagami said, referring to the time the other Akashi had nearly sliced open his face. "But surely, you don't expect to face Aomine in that state, do you?"

Akashi's eyes widened. _That's right, Aomine Daiki, his opponent at the Interhigh. All this time, that excited feeling in his guts, had he really forgotten them? Kagami was right, how could he face Aomine-kun like this?_

 _Agreed_ , the other him said, _you need me_.

Akashi turned around and looked back surprised, finding himself back at the black corridor again. He noticed his other-self sitting on a cube-shaped stone, observing him, his silhouette hidden in the darkness. Nevertheless, he instantly noticed his other self's heterochromatic eyes, unlike Akashi, one red and one gold.

"I don't know why it has taken you so long to recognize this problem," the other Akashi said, speaking to him directly now. He shifted his palm to cover his face as he said this and revealed only his eyes.

"Without these eyes, the full power of these eyes, you can never attain true victory." He continued, and a glowing red ring appeared around his cat-like pupils, indicating the activation of the Emperor Eye he once used.

"I thought we have gone past victory. Kuroko and Kagami defeated you, remember?" Akashi said.

"You're right…" The other him replied with a hint of irritation in his voice, but for a man so hell bent on victory, his soft expression surprised Akashi. "I've learnt several things about basketball after that match too," he continued. "The fun of shooting, passing, somehow being a one-man army doesn't seem as enticing as relying on others. Y'know, sometimes I too get jealous when I see you play like that."

Akashi's eyes widened. "What do you mean? You want to play too then?" he asked seriously.

"Yeah, but as you have guessed, my attitude may be a problem…" the other Akashi admitted. "If I were to be honest with myself, I may lose myself in my attempts to achieve victory and end up hurting others again." He smiled sadly after saying that.

Akashi did not say anything. Ever since he took over after his match with Murasakibara in their third year of Middle School, Akashi had stayed cooped up in this desolate place and had inadvertently allowed his other self to wreak havoc. But yet, as his other self spoke, the heavy chains binding his heart somewhat loosened.

"I understand if you don't trust me, and if you don't want my assistance. But all I'm saying is that since we are one and the same, using a small extent of power would be fine to me." He said to Akashi.

"I thought the Emperor Eye is yours? Wouldn't you hate it if I were to use it?" Akashi asked.

"You could think of it as my way of repenting then, and it's not that I don't like it per say. We are both Akashi, so naturally it would not feel "right" using it because there are two of us. But if you were to use the full extent of the Emperor Eye, it'll have to be me," His other self explained.

"I see…" and with that, Akashi suddenly laughed, in what it felt like ages since he last did that. His other self looked up in surprise.

"What's so funny?" It was unlike an Akashi to laugh so care freely like this. On the contrary, Akashis are usually serious people.

"Nothing much… but it feels so long since we spoke like this so seriously…" Akashi admitted, and he could see his other self trying to hide his smile in the darkness.

"The last time was at the Winter Cup, huh?" he said.

"Yeah…" Akashi heaved a sigh of relief. For some reason, the heavy weight in his heart seemed to completely disappear, and he felt that he could trust this Akashi much more now. After all, they were one and the same person: Akashi Seijuuro.

"But, I get it." Akashi continued, his voice more relaxed now. "What I truly want was victory. But I could not achieve it without power and if I attained it, I would lose all my friends. That's why we were split into two."

"But, we realized back then that victory alone was not right, to play basketball without teamwork, trust, or fun. It was truly a shock, but we realized and understood it. We lost our original motive for playing basketball back then when Mom was still here."

"Yes… but right now, we realized another thing, that we cannot live without the other as well. If you lend me your power, and I lend you mine, only then could we truly be called 'Akashi Seijuuro'," Both Akashis concluded.

There was a short moment of silence, but they both understood each other fully now.

"But I'm not sure if the others would accept me at this point…" the other Akashi confessed.

"Then I'll take your place as the Emperor. I will help you achieve your victory." Akashi said resolutely, and the other Akashi looked up fully this time at him. Indeed, they both want victory, but one had gone too far to attain, and hence this was perhaps 'punishment', to be locked in away forever, but he accepted it graciously. The dark corridor slowly brightened to reveal the other Akashi fully, and Akashi's widened when he saw his other self tearing up.

Akashi turned around to face the light. "Thanks… for everything."

"Yeah…" And with that he returned to reality.

"Akashi? Are you all right" Kagami asked, when Akashi did not speak.

"Yeah…" Akashi replied, rubbing his eyes and drying his tears. Kagami raised his double brows.

"Err… what's wrong?" Kagami asked nervously.

"Nothing, just had a chat with an old friend…" Akashi said, as he finished regaining his composure and turned to face Kagami. Kagami uttered a "What?!" in surprise when he saw that familiar red glowing in Akashi's eyes. When he spoke next, he looked and sounded more serious, as though the Akashi he previously knew at the Winter Cup had returned.

"Kagami, are you still in your ZONE?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Despite his conservation with Akashi, his resolve had not wavered one bit. In fact he was still determined to defeat Shiro.

"How long do you think you can last?"

At this moment, Kagami suddenly felt something heavy in his legs. It was probably the effects of using the ZONE for this long, as it had already been close to four minutes of playing in the ZONE. He must not have felt the strain being so engrossed in his playing, but he could probably last for one more play.

"Probably one more play before I completely tire…" Kagami admitted.

"I see, well it seems Shiro can only last for one more play as well," Akashi said as he observed Shiro, who looked rather exhausted at this point. He passed the basketball to one of the red players and walked to Shiro, who did not take his eyes off him.

"What's up?" Shiro asked.

"Kagami and I would be leaving after this basket, so if you don't mind, I would like you to go all out too," he explained.

"… Sure thing…" Shiro answered. _What's this, there's something different about him…._ Anyway, he was also feeling rather exhausted at this point, so it would be wise to finish the match here anyway. The points were currently at 52-53, red to blue, after the two baskets they Kagami and him made, so if Akashi and Kagami scored, he would lose anyway, although he had no intention of letting that happen. He sighed as he observed Akashi walk back to his place.

"So you have gotten yourself back together, huh?' Kagami smirked.

"Yes… If you don't mind, we should focus on scoring our last point, no? To defeat Shiro-kun, I mean." Akashi enquired.

"Yeah, I'll leave him up to you then!" Kagami said roughly. Although he would not be facing Shiro now, leaving a newly regained Akashi to battle Shiro would not feel so bad either. _I guess another day, huh?_

The rain started to fall, and the crowd started to whip out their umbrellas for find whatever shelter they could. Nevertheless, they knew this was the final match, and no one, even those who would get drench, left so as to watch the ending of this climatic battle. The blue team started and they passed the ball to Akashi, who dribbled forward slowly. As Kagami jogged behind him, he noted how much more stable and relaxed Akashi's pace was just now. Without much effort Akashi reached the half court line before Shiro appeared to stop him, while Kagami went to mark a blue player on his side of court.

"Yo… this is it… you won't stop me…" Shiro muttered. His presence alone was enough to cause Akashi to slow down dramatically, and his widened at his aura; the holy aura and impression was all gone, instead replaced with a blackish purple aura full of malice. He took a defensive stance and readied himself for the Emperor. In an instant, the ring around Akashi's eyes glowed as he activated his newfound Emperor Eye that he had not used in month. Time slowed down as Akashi irises shifted back and forth as he inspected every nook and cranny of Shiro's movement. Indeed, this Emperor Eye did not feel as powerful as when the other Akashi used it, but it should be more than enough to get past Shiro. _He's moving there, so I'll –!_ All at once, the moment he noticed Shiro's white eyes glowed, the entire scenery seemed to stop entirely, instead of just slowing down. The entire landscape turned back to the blackness as Akashi felt his own Emperor Eye being absorbed into Shiro's own. _Sorry, Akashi-kun, you may have gotten back your Emperor Eye, but it's nothing compared to mine,_ Shiro said, as his white glowing eyes focused on the ball levitating in mid-air now. He smirked and he reached out for it. Time flowed back to normal, and in an instant, the ball fell out of Akashi's grip, and Shiro caught in one sweep and dribbled to the blue's hoop. But the Emperor instead smiled. "Don't get conceited…"

Shiro's eyes widened at the sight of Kagami near the free throw line, with his arms spread out and the red lightning tracing him movements. _Where did he come from?! Nevertheless –!_ And all of the sudden, Kagami reached out and flicked the ball out of Shiro's without any effort, and he could not react to it at all. _What's this? I can't move fast enough…_ Shiro thought as he tried to comprehend his own inactions. He looked back when Akashi spoke.

"The emperor eye has some disadvantages doesn't it? Even I know that the more frequently you use it, or the further into the future you tried to predict, it taxes on your body, and you slow down for a second or two right after you use it after predicting so far." Akashi explained and Shiro's face hardened.

"You tried to predict even further into the future when I used my own Emperor Eye, hence it severely depletes your stamina. Normally, if you were to predict someone's movement normally, you should be able to continue going, but I guess that's not possible with your speed and having to face people like Kagami who has the ZONE, or me with the Emperor Eye," Akashi continued, looking down at Shiro.

"Urgh…!"

Kagami rushed forward to the blue hoop, and met several blue players who tried to stop him at the half line. He easily passed them with his superior speed, but noticed Shiro chasing behind him. Though he may not be as fast in a one-on-one, but in terms of running a long distance, Shiro was indeed fast. _But he won't catch up to me!_ Kagami grinned to himself but suddenly his expression transitioned into shock. His legs had fully felt the burden of using the ZONE and his pace instantly dropped as he started to lose balance. The red electricity flowing out of eyes disappeared in a flash and he felt his whole body collapsing under the pure exhaustion. Without any hesitation, he turned his head and threw the ball to Akashi who was just inches in front of him, and saw Shiro also inches behind him. He fell on his knees, and rested on the spot, panting heavily.

Akashi caught the ball and made eye contact with Kagami, who from his eyes could already tell that he wanted him to score. He gave him a shadow of a nod, and turned back in his direction, determined to score. The rain had perhaps reduced his visibility somewhat, but it did not matter, for due to the pass Kagami made, Shiro had already caught up to Akashi near the three-point line. He took on a defensive stance, and his expression looked particularly rough like Kagami, Akashi thought he could see a shadow of a fire-breathing dragon somewhere behind him. Without saying anything, Shiro's eyes widened as he activated his Emperor Eye once more. He did not care about the consequences already, but rather all that he needed was to steal the ball and somehow score. If the ball was still in this man's possession, loss was certain. Time stopped and the entire landscape turned black once again, with a dark purplish tint to it: the individual raindrops in mid-air, the crowd froze in their positions with their breaths held, the players looking excitedly at them, Kagami on his knees but also observing, and Akashi in front of him looking determined to score. _Sorry Akashi, no doubt you are strong, but it's my victory_ , Shiro said as his hand reached out for the ball Akashi's hands. In a moment when time returns to normal, Akashi's position would be right there and Shiro's hand would reach there at the exact timing. He could already see the ball flying out of Akashi's hands and his shocked expression.

All of a sudden, Akashi's left eye, suddenly changed. Shiro's eyes shifted to observe them and noticed something different about. Time had stopped for sure, so Akashi was definitely not doing anything, but Shiro's expression turned into shock as his left eye suddenly changed from red to gold, and a reddish black aura rose of Akashi's frozen body. Then, a red ring appeared on both of Akashi's eyes, around their cat-like pupils, but glow was more intense than before. All at once, the purplish black landscape was suddenly layered over with blackish red landscape this time which resemble Hell itself, as though being superimposed on it. Shiro then realized that he could not move, although his hand was inches from the ball. _What the hell is this?!_ Akashi smiled widened demonically.

"You think… your Emperor Eye is better than mine…?" his lips mouthing the words. "Don't be foolish…"

Akashi's hands retracted in slow motion to avoid Shiro's own, and Akashi's made several crossovers in slow motion. Shiro's glowing eyes traced his movements while frozen, and instantly widened in fear. He noticed how he was on his right foot when he moved in to steal Akashi's ball, but those movements… and all at once, Shiro felt his entire weight shifting to his right side, while still frozen. For the first time, he suddenly realized the person in front of him was not the Akashi that he had played against just now. His demonic smile, and different coloured eyes, and that ring, made him shudder.

"Who… are… you?!"

The man in front of him stopped smiling. He then whispered, "My name, of course, is Akashi Seijuuro… Hisoka…", speaking Shiro's first name.

All at once, time was forced to return back to normal. There was a flash of light that blinded Shiro, as he felt his body being forced to move, and then suddenly he fell on his back. The rain fell back into motion as everyone gasped as they tried to comprehend what just happened: Akashi had just ankle broke Shiro, despite him having the Emperor Eye, which could only mean that Akashi had too regained his own Emperor Eye.

 _No… but those movements aren't the Akashi I know, it's the other Akashi…_ Kagami frowned as he thought to himself.

As Akashi slowly dribbled past Shiro at walking pace as if to mock him, he commanded like an Emperor, "Your head is too high…" causing Shiro to stare at Akashi in fear.

Without any further resistance, he easily made a lay up and scored the final two points that allowed the red team to win. At this the crowd roared, but quickly dispersed as the rain became even heavier than before. The players made a short celebration, but most of them quickly took their stuff and left to avoid the downpour. In a minute, almost everybody left except Kagami, Akashi and Shiro, who stood drenched in the rain. Akashi went over to Kagami to help him up, although Kagami appeared rather hesistant after noticing his golden left eye.

"Don't worry, Kagami, let's get you to that seat first. I have an umbrella so you can at least rest yourself," Akashi said. Despite being a completely different personality, having the same voice and face made it unnerving. With little effort, Akashi assisted Kagami despite his significantly smaller stature to the seats, and handed him an umbrella and a bottle of water from his bag. He then left to retrieve Kagami's soaked bag near the side lines, and noticed Shiro strolling back, looking extremely dejected.

"Hey, you… I apologize for just now, ankle breaking you I mean…" Akashi called out to him above the rain. "I… didn't mean what I said…" It did felt weird apologizing, after all he was used to treating everyone below him, and he could not help lowering his opponents even further in an actual match.

"Yeah…" Shiro mumbled, returning to his lame manner. "It was a good game anyway; I didn't expect you to be that strong…."

"But I'm surprised you have the Emperor Eye, I thought I was the only one who had it."

"Me too, when I played for my basketball team, I was the MVP because of it…" Shiro laughed dryly as if he was reminiscing his high school days. But Akashi was rather curious where this mysterious man was from.

"Oh, I was from the same school as you, Rakuzan…" he smiled, after guessing Akashi's query. Akashi, however, did not really react. On the other hand, he wondered why he did not hear of this senior.

"Well, it was all fun, I guess, predicting and scoring non-stop, hahaha…" Shiro continued, "But when you realize nobody could match you, it becomes a little boring…" And Akashi was instantly reminded of Aomine, and his own days in Teiko. "I did hear of the Generation of Miracles, though, and boy was I jealous when I found out how strong you guys were. And to also find out there was another that can predict his oppoents after watching your videos? I was really, really jealous…" Shiro picked up his back and looked at Akashi.

"However, that game was fun and I meant it. It has been a long time since I faced someone this strong, and back then, you guys would have totally trashed me…" Shiro smiled. "Oh well, anyway I'm guessing you came here in the first place to learn more about your emperor eye right?" Akashi nodded. "Well, you have already learnt all I've known just now… predicting further and more than one opponent at the same time, so there's that."

There was a short silence, before Shiro concluded. "Thanks again… I'll see you again next time…" and he quickly disappeared into the rain. Akashi picked up Kagami's red bag and returned to the seats to find Kagami resting.

"Yo… Akashi…" Kagami said awkwardly. He did not know what to say to person who nearly stabbed him after all.

"Kagami, how are you feeling?" Akashi said as he looked down on him. No matter what, his eyes and stare made Akashi look extremely intimidating. Kagami looked away and mumbled an "alright…" There was a short moment of silence, then Akashi muttered a "Sorry…", which Kagami heard clearly despite the rain.

"For what?" Kagami asked.

"Last year, I apologise for nearly killing you, that is…" Akashi said, trying to sound sincere, but his crudeness destroyed that attempt.

Kagami laughed, and Akashi proceeded to take out another umbrella and his cellphone. Before he made a call, he turned back to take a glance at the Super Ace. _Kagami, huh? You sure have gotten stronger… Anyway, sorry for the trouble, I just wanted to play again. I guess some habits don't change, huh? My bad… I guess it will be some time before I come out play seriously again…_ And the voice faded away.

Akashi turned around, with his umbrella opened, and told Kagami that he has already called for a car to send him back home, shocking Kagami. He did not expect such hospitality from the guy that looked down on everyone, and ankle broke them without any hesitation, but soon noticed that both of Akashi's eyes were red now. Kagami smiled to himself and wondered what Alex would say after seeing one of Akashi's fancy cars, or how his Seirin teammates would react to him playing with both Akashis.

* * *

 **Yep... no words here. 6k words, and i don't even know how that happened hahaha. But okay here marks the end of Akashi's "arc", and next up is the basketball event before the Interhigh! so stay tuned and all. By the way, im considering changing the title to like "Summer Interhigh 2016" than "Aomine vs Akashi", since im gonna write about other teams anyway so why not jus do random matchups and see where that goes haha (of course I will have tochange the chapters abit and all to include more of Seirin), but still focusing on aomine vs akashi though, so tell me what you guys think. Well, that's it then... I sure do hope that i can continue writing this long but we'll see... Comment review and favourite!**

 **-kkkdragon123**


	9. Chapter 8 - Reunion of the Miracles

**CHAPTER 8 - Reunion of the Miracles**

Time passed, and before anyone knew it, it was only a week before the Summer Interhigh. For this year, the entire basketball community was extremely excited, because of the appearance of the Generation of Miracles playing in their Second Year, along with the other strong players within their tier. The Winter Cup last year had shown the abilities of all of them in their climatic matches, and it was sure that this year, none of them would have any reason to hold back anymore. It would be an all-out brawl between the strongest of the strongest. But before any of that, there was a basketball event that would take place before the Interhigh, hosted by a privileged sports company in Japan. Without a doubt, they invited the strongest players, mainly the Generation of Miracles, and naturally, they all accepted. On that fateful day, the Generation of Miracles would be meeting again, sparking some sort of glorious moment to be remembered.

"Dai-Chan! Hurry up, you'll be late you know!" Momoi called out to Aomine outside his home.

"Yea… yea..." the door flung opened, and Aomine strolled out lazily, wearing his casual black t-shirt, and long pants.

"Okay! Let's go!" Momoi beamed and made several steps ahead of Aomine, who ignored her.

"Why are you so happy?" Aomine asked, closing the gates to his house, and shuffling himself after the pink-haired secretary. He noticed that her lighthearted rhythm was unusual even by normal standards, and she was definitely more cheerful than her usual self.

"What do you mean, why?" Momoi turned her head, and smiled, "We are meeting the rest! Why wouldn't I be happy?" And she turned back and trotted off, humming to herself.

Aomine hid his smile, and walked on. _Tetsu… Kagami… Kise… Midorima… Murasakibara… and Akashi, huh? How much better have you guys gotten?_

"Doors are closing…"

Midorima stood near the opposite end of the closing doors in the train, silent with his serious expression as per usual. As if his green hair, tall height and taped fingers were not enough to attract stares from the public, he was holding a wooden horseshoe delicately in his hands, further worsening the mutterings and mumblings from others. Nevertheless, he completely ignored and stared at the outside.

Midorima Shintarou, the best shooter in Teiko, and the shooting guard of the Generation of Miracles. If one could describe his personality, it would really be a miracle that he was able to make friends with anyone, after all, his antisocial attitude and stern expression made talking to him relatively difficult. Nevertheless, he could be described as extremely hardworking, always believing in the merits of hard work. His motto, "Man proposes, God disposes" is the very essence of that, which means doing everything with best you can, and let God do the rest. Back in Teiko, even after Akashi changed and the team stopped practicing, Midorima did not waver, but continued to practice, honing his shots to a quality even further than perfection. As his teammate in Shutoku, Takao once said, "he was like a loner, always practicing… endlessly shooting…" In terms of skills, he was the best in shooting, be it three pointers or two pointers, and his accuracy was literally peerless. No one could match his accuracy naturally, and his greatest feat by far was making a full-court shot, from one end to another. Even Kise Ryota, known for his Perfect Copy, could only imitate a half-court at best, and because of this, Midorima often helped his team score with his three pointers. While he may be lacking in terms of other abilities, such as speed or raw power, he compensates by drastically raising the points of his team, shooting a three the instant he catches the ball, at any position on the court, and it goes into the hoop perfectly without a graze on the ring. To put in another perspective, all he needs is 10 shots to score 30 points, and in a game, he could easily put out more than 20 three pointers and even reach to 30 three pointers at his maximum before his legs give out, which equates to literally 90 points assuming if all the shots are successful, which they always are. This man, while he may not seem as much as compared to the other miracles, is definitely one to be reckoned with.

"Eh, Mido-chin?" a lazy voice called out. Midorima instantly felt his blood pumping through his veins and his irritation suddenly peaked. _Damn… don't tell me it's…_

He turned around, and saw an extremely tall man with purple hair covered by a cap behind him. He wore his usual attire, a white t-shirt and khakis. Naturally, he unintentionally attracted stares as well due to his 2.1 metre height.

"Murasakibara, huh?" Midorima said quietly, with a clear hint of aggression, although his former teammate did not even notice this as he was busy munching on his snacks as per usual.

Murasakibara Atsushi, another member of the Generation of Miracles, who plays the center role. Out of all of the miracles, he is the tallest, and his raw natural power easily triumphs all the other miracles. However, compared to the intimidating pressure that he often exudes, his laziness and child-like behavior will definitely make a first impression. As Kise once stated, Murasakibara "may be the most naturally talented out of us five (Miracles)", and this was true, evident by his lack of effort or enthusiasm in games, but yet somehow managing to block out almost every single attempt to score by his opponents. Despite this, raw power and height is not the only he has that makes him an excellent center, but his reflexes and speed: his long arms and legs easily allow him to cover the paint in one or two steps in a split of a second, and his reflexes allow him to appear right in front of any player as he teleported. Even he could not reach him, an arm out would easily suffice. Furthermore, all of this can be enhanced by jumping. With his 2.10m height, and an arm out, he literally did not have to jump to make a simple layup, but rather just tip the ball into the hoop, and he wanted to, he could make a dunk without any effort. His jumping also made him almost impossible to get by in defense, and his raw power made defending futile as well, with him overpowering three defenders at once during the Winter Cup while performing a 360dunk, and also breaking the entire backboard. To top it off, he too has the uncanny ability to enter the ZONE, as seen in his Winter Cup match with Seirin, although at that point, he was too tired to do anything, and Kagami's Meteor Jam had already ended the game. Despite all these magnificent abilities that this man has, it all depends if he would actually make the effort, and he did, opponents would experience true hopelessness as attacking and defending are made obsolete by this very man.

"Yo… what are you doing here?" Murasakibara asked, his voice sounding as lazy as ever.

"What do you mean what? Weren't you invited for the match?" Midorima replied while looking away. To be quite honest, if there was one person that he did not get along well with in the Generation of Miracles, it was this man standing right in front of him, and the Osaka predictions said his fortune would be "not bad" today.

"Oh yea… this means we will get to see the rest right?" Murasakibara asked again and he continued munching away on his snacks.

"Of course… and please chew with your mouth close…" Midorima concluded sternly, causing Murasakibara to give pouty look. He looked out of the windows as the trained moved past several blocks of apartments. _Meeting them again… huh…_

Somewhere far away, Kagami and Kuroko were too making their way towards the streetball tournament, and as per usual, Kagami was pumped to be able to face the Generation of Miracles once again. Meanwhile, Kuroko maintain his usual stoic demeanour.

"Why are you so excited, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked curiously. "Didn't you play with Akashi-kun a week ago?"

"Yeah… but this time I will be able to meet the others too!" Kagami replied excitedly, "It's a good chance to test all of their strength…" And with that, he unknowingly grinned to himself, while Kuroko sighed and No.2 looked up.

"Always this competitive eh…" Kuroko sighed to himself, causing Kagami to face him.

"Hey, what's that sigh for?" Kagami asked.

"I mean, it's good to be competitive and all, but sometimes I think Kagami-kun may get a little _too_ competitive…" Kuroko replied, and his irises shifted to observe him. "Hasn't that always been the case?"

Kagami looked away, as Kuroko did make a strong point. At times, he would get so competitive that he himself would not even notice it, which often leads to his more-than-usual- aggressive self, something he had been trying to water down.

"Well… it's not like it's a bad thing though," Kuroko continued, "but sometimes I worry a little of what might happen if you get too strong."

"You are referring to Aomine, aren't you?"

Kuroko nodded his head. No.2 looked up concernly, and Kagami's brows furrowed.

"I… won't," Kagami blurted out.

"Huh?"

"Like I said, I won't become like Aomine… It's part of my code that I play my best and enjoy basketball. I won't hold back ever… it's the minimum respect I have for all my opponents…" Kagami said firmly, causing Kuroko's eyes to widen; after all, Kagami was never this serious or level-headed at that.

"Also, I won't ever abandon my shadow…" He added, causing Kuroko to smile, and No.2 to wag his tail even more.

Kuroko Tetsuya, the phantom sixth member of the Generation of Miracles. His stoic and calm personality befits his title the phantom, due to his expertise in the use of Misdirection: A variation of the sleight of hand tactic that magicians use to fool their audiences. This allows Kuroko to mainly redirect his opponent's gaze onto the ball and away from himself by initiating many passes and rarely touching the ball itself. Coupled with his natural lack of presence, he naturally gives of the vibe on an invisible passer that can causes the ball's motion to curve and inexplicably end up in the hoop. In a normal fast-paced basketball game, it is almost impossible to track and follow Kuroko, who constantly moves around, and one has to also concentrate on the ball, and that Imayoshi of Too Academy once said, "the more you look at him, the more he disappears". Furthermore, Kuroko too has a natural skill for observing, where his court awareness is good enough to be a point guard, and even members of Kirisaki Daichi Academy claimed that Kuroko observes their blinking timings to execute drives (although the truth is not far from that either), and this exceptional skill in observation led him to develop the Quasi-Emperor Eye, a variation of the Emperor Eye that allows him to predict the movements of his teammates, which could easily control any basketball game. In essence, Kuroko is the player that supports his teammates to victory from the shadows.

"Also, I won't ever abandon my shadow…" a deep voice repeated after Kagami, causing him to spun around in shock. _This voice-!_

"KISE!" Kagami screamed, and nearly threw a punch at the cheerful blonde, who was giggling uncontrollably to himself.

"Oh man, Kagami-cchi, you sound like a total bag of cliché…" Kise giggled, causing Kagami to blush uncontrollably as well.

"So, you guys going to the match, too huh?" He asked.

"Yea, is Kise-kun invited to?" Kuroko asked, appearing behind Kise. Naturally, he turned around in shock for not noticing him, and then again, these kinds of occurrences often occur with Kuroko.

"Woah!" Kise gasped, "Didn't see you there Kuroko-cchi!" And Kuroko nodded in recognition.

"Yep, I'm heading there now! Didn't expect to meet you on the way though," Kise answered cheerfully.

"Wait –" Kagami interjected, "So does that mean all the other Generation of Miracles are going too?!"

Kise and Kuroko looked at each other, then turned back to face him. " Um, you didn't know?"

Kagami mouth widened. _So that means I'll get to play with them even before the Interhigh huh…_ And with that, he quickly fastened his steps to follow Kise and Kuroko.

Soon enough, the trio representing the primary colours reached the basketball court, filled with many players and audiences alike: mostly teenagers like themselves, some older and younger, as well as several adults overseeing the event. The location was near some sort of recreational park, so the basketball court, or rather courts adjacent to each other, were located kind of in the middle of a clearing beside the local park, spanning over a few 50 metres in length; and tents were pitched up at the sides which included some medical aid centres and refreshments stands. There was also a big banner near the entrance which said, " **INTERNATIONAL YOUTH BASKETBALL GAMES** ", along with a few tables for registration and administration businesses. It seems the news of the Generation of Miracles playing was the main reason for such a big crowd, and many eyes turned to the trio when they entered the playing field.

"Woah… so many people…" Kise mumbled, despite being used to attention as a part-time model.

"Yeah…" Kagami muttered, feeling somewhat hot in his face as they waded through the crowd. Meanwhile, Kuroko smoothly sailed through without attracting much attention as per usual.

They reached from the table that was labelled "Registration", and the person tending to them looked immensely excited that he was tending to one of Generation of Miracles.

"Names, please?" the young lady asked.

Kise naturally replied first. "Kise Ryota ~desu," he said in his usual cheery voice, placing the emphasis of his "cutesey" voice on his "desu", with a hint of a wink that caused the attendant to blush.

"Ahh… yes, your name is here… your registered position is a small forward, right?"

"Mmm hmm…"

"Okay, attached this sticker to your shirt so that we know you're a player…"

Kagami went next, and unlike the previous player that gave off a sense of playfulness, this one was plain scary, literally. The lady gulped as she had to look even further up at Kagami's imposing height.

"Erm… name, please?"

"Kagami Taiga… desu…" Kagami said roughly with the air of a spartan, although his attempt at copying Kise failed rather miserably, coming out more awkward than polite.

"Ahh… okay, power-forward?" Kagami nodded.

"Here you go…" and she handed him his sticker.

"That's all, right?" and the lady sighed as she took out her phone to indulge in her social media.

"Um… I would like to register," Kuroko said stoically, causing the lady to drop her phone in shock. _When did this guy appear? Has he been standing in front of me the entire time?_ She raised her eyebrows, as almost all the players that registered were over a certain height, apart from one other redhead. Nevertheless, she asked anyway, as that "appearing" phenomenon did occur before as well.

"Name?" she asked.

"Kuroko Tetsuya…" and the lady looked through her list. True enough, there was a name like that listed there, although his position was blank, just like the other few players. But she was told not to really question this as the position was not really that important apart from deciding the teams later.

"Here you go…" as she handed the sticker to Kuroko, who thanked her politely. The lady watched as the trio strolled off, before returning to her phone.

"So… where are the rest…" Kise asked, looking rather uncomfortable. From what he could see, there were over twenty players with stickers, but clearly over fifty for the audiences, but what made him uncomfortable was how there were many foreign players. While he did not have any issues with foreigners, he had never been this close with them like this before. There were players of varying heights, of different ethnicity, hair and skin colour. _They weren't kidding when they said international, huh…_

However, to Kagami, it did not bother him much as he spent a good portion of his life in America, and thus had played with many foreigners before. In fact, he felt a familiar sense of nostalgia and home-sickness and he walked past a few Americans talking about streetball. On the other hand, Kuroko did not bother hiding his obvious curiosity as he observed the other players. Just at this moment, all three of them heard a familiar voice nearby. A distinct voice, that if there was one word to describe it: Lazy, and among the people they know, there was only two people that had this trait.

The trio turned around, and true enough, they saw Aomine and Momoi. They quickly shuffled forward to greet them.

"I don't get this stupid sticker… this thing will come off anyway during the match so what's the point…" Aomine grumbled, half annoyed and half amused.

"Oh stop whining Dai-Chan… If you want to complain, at least complain about finding the others…" Momoi said distractedly as she looked around to find the other Generation of Miracles.

"Oh? Hey, there's Tetsu!" she squeaked excitedly, and dashed forward towards Kuroko, completely ignoring Kise and Kagami, while Aomine followed lazily.

"TETSU!" Momoi screamed as she jumped onto Kuroko and hugged him tightly, who stood motionless. Naturally, many players turned at first to observe the commotion, and then to admire Momoi's beauty.

"Momoi… you're squeezing me…" Kuroko mumbled, although Momoi was too happy to care.

"Kagamin, Ki-chan! Goood morning~!" Momoi said happily when she finally noticed the other two, to which Kise giggled, while Kagami looked repulsed as per usual.

"Yo," Aomine smiled as he reached the two players he wanted a rematch with. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Haha… only for Kagami-cchi," Kise grinned, clearly glad to see his former teammate once again.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Kagami asked.

"Oh… I played with Aomine-cchi abit a few weeks ago…", causing Kagami's eyes to flare with jealousy. Obviously, if he could, he would have wanted to practice with the Ace of the Generation of Miracles. Aomine then turned to Kuroko, whom barely got out Momoi's hug.

"Yo… Tetsu… long time no see…"

"Yes, Aomine-kun, it has really been a long time," Kuroko replied, and smiled sincerely.

"Well… if all of you are gathering here, I guess we don't have a choice but to join you…" a voice said loudly, and the group all turned.

Midorima and Murasakibara approached them, attracting stares from even the basketball players as the two tallest members of the Generation of Miracles waded through the crowd towards them. Midorima carried his wooden horseshoe delicately, ensuring that no harm would fall upon it, while Murasakibara was munching on a bag of potato chips as per usual.

"Ohh! Mukkun, Mido-chin, you came!" Momoi said, greeting and waving at them.

"Yo, Sa-chin… yo Kise-chin… Mine-chin… Kuro-chin…" Murasakibara greeted lamely as he looked at each of them, although when he reached Kagami, he paused for a while, and then mumbled, "yo… Kagami…" causing him to yell "What was that pause for?!"

"You guys are too noisy…" Midorima said sternly, adjusting his glasses with his free hand.

"Oh Midorima-cchi, is that today's good luck charm?" Kise asked curiously, eyeing his wooden horseshoe.

"Heh, they say horseshoe brings luck, but you think it really works?" Aomine scoffed, causing Kagami to grin.

"Idiots, you guys don't truly understand the true worth of a good luck charm like this, in fact," Midorima concluded, causing the rest to shrug their shoulders.

Momoi beamed throughout the conversation. Despite not meeting for some time, they still spoke so naturally just like back in the Teiko days, and to see the team coming back together made her heart melt.

"But what's this basketball event about anyway?" Kagami asked, "They didn't exactly give us any information, did they?" to which Kuroko nodded.

"Yeah… they didn't…" Aomine said.

"I wonder…" Kise mumbled.

They all stared at the other foreign players in silence. After all, they were only informed of "playing basketball with other strong players to promote some company", and not much else was given to them. If anything, they probably guessed that they would be playing with these people, but other than that, all of them were really clueless about this event. They looked around in silence, although Murasakibara's munching kind of ruined the suspense.

"Long time no see, everyone." A voice said, and everyone knew who it was.

"Akashi…" they all said in unison to the former captain of the Generation of Miracles, who smiled at them.

"It's been a really long time… How's everyone doing?" Akashi smiled as he walked towards the group. He was wearing a usual grey jacket with his sleeves rolled up and a red shirt inside, along with a black pants and sneakers.

The Generation of Miracles slightly hesitated. Despite them being in the same year, he was their captain for a time, and that authoritative feeling did not subside one bit. Nevertheless, all of them could feel something about Akashi that changed. Perhaps it was the slightly more relaxed atmosphere around him.

"Ah… Akashi-kun! It's been a long time!" Momoi broke the silence cheerfully, though she sounded rather awkward, but at least this allowed the other members to talk to Akashi more properly.

"Akashi… It certainly has been a while…" Midorima muttered, glaring at him behind his glasses. Even if Akashi had changed, the appearance of the man who made him lower his head back at the Winter Cup did not change. Naturally, all of them, apart from maybe Kagami and Kuroko had a reason to feel a little tense nonetheless.

Akashi turned to face him, and said, "Midorima… it's nice to see you again…"

The other members started warming up to him.

"Aka-chin, long time no see~" Murasakibara said lazily, offering Akashi a snack, to which Akashi accepted generously.

"Akashi-kun, it's nice to meet you again," Kuroko said softly while nodding to him.

"Yo, it looks like we get to play again," Kagami grinned.

"Akashi-cchi, long time no see!" Kise grinned while closing one eye.

"It's… been a while, Akashi…" Aomine muttered.

Akashi beamed as he greeted all of them. When was the last time they had gathered like this? His heart melted as he looked at each of them properly, as after all, the last time he had seen them up close like this was back in their days at Teiko Middle School. Naturally, his eyes lingered on Aomine, his opponent for the Summer Interhigh, as he wondered how much they all improved.

A loud screech suddenly sounded from the edge of the court, and everybody turned in its direction. They could see a man with a microphone standing on a makeshift stage, under the " **INTERNATIONAL YOUTH BASKETBALL GAMES** " banner, causing Kagami and Aomine to raise their eyebrows.

"Everybody, I humbly welcome you all here today!" the announcer said in English, causing Aomine and Murasakibara's expressions to harden.

"Huh, what's this shit…" Murasakibara pouted as Aomine's expression looked uncomfortable.

"Today is a day for all of us to remember! This event, the "International Youth Basketball games" invites players from countries all around the world, youths like you, to play with each other. No doubt, all of you are strong! After all, we scouted and picked the best of the best from different countries, and as part of the international trip for the schools non inclusive of Japan, we are very grateful that your individual schools have allowed us to squeeze this event right here!"

"International…" Kagami muttered as his eyes shifted around the court.

"This guy is loud… someone tell him to shut up…" Aomine grumbled, causing Momoi to hiss at him.

"So! What would you be doing today? Of course, play! We will be dividing you guys into teams, after all this IS an international event, so we gotta mingle abit! What's in it for you, you ask? The team that wins gets these very vouchers!" the announcer exclaimed, causing some commotion among the crowd.

"Just vouchers…. What a load of crap…"

"International, my ass… what a waste of time…"

"Now, now, don't be too hasty, as these vouchers are worth over about a hundred dollars, which you can exchange it when you get home…" the announcer continued. "For a basketball game, I'd say that's a pretty good offer…" which caused the commotion to die down.

"So… without further ado! Let's start! We'll sort you into your teams now! And then the matchups, by random, of course, begins!" the announcer finished, to which he picked up a basketball and made a three pointer from his position easily, causing the crowd to cheer.

"Well… can someone translate what he just said?" Aomine said as he turned to face the rest.

"Idiot, just how competent is your English…" Midorima sighed, and he proceeded to summarise what the announcer said.

"Mix with the other team? I don't really speak English…" Murasakibara sighed as he finished the last of his snacks.

"Oh well, let's just see where we go, okay?" Kise smiled.

From what Kagami could see, there were about thirty players including them, so divide that amount by five would equal to six teams. If anything, the shirts they provide did consist of six colours. In other words, they would all be playing against each other, huh? _Interesting_ , Kagami thought.

In no time, they all received their team allocations, and of course, all of them were on different teams, with the exception of Kagami and Murasakibara, who were on the same team.

"Kagami, huh? Nice to meet…"

"Didn't you already greet me just now?!" Kagami snapped.

"Oh… hmm…" Murasakibara looked dazed, although in reality, he was trying to get his mind warmed up. After all, he hadn't played seriously for a while, and thought this might not be a bad idea to warm up again.

The respective Generation of Miracles went to put on their shirts, and funnily enough, the colours matched the respective miracles. Midorima – Dark Green, Kise – Brownish Gold, Aomine – Dark Blue, Akashi – Red, Murasakibara and Kagami – Black, Kuroko – Grey. And with that, they went off to the respective areas to interact with their teams. In terms of English Competency, Akashi, Midorima, Momoi and Kagami were the best at it (Kagami due to living in the US for some time while the rest studied hard for it) being able to speak fluently like a native, followed by Kise and Kuroko (Kise as model, while Kuroko is naturally better) who could speak normally, no difficult vocabulary, but nonetheless still sound normal and maybe just slightly broken, and finally Aomine and Murasakibara, who generally failed their English at school and barely speak in broken sentences. Hence, for most of them, they were generally (and luckily) fine with their situation since there were International players who probably could not speak that well either. On the other hand, Aomine had to be tagged along with Momoi as a translator, whose natural beauty attracted much stares.

The Generation of Miracles had just gathered, but in a short span of time, they were to be enemies once again. Even then, they were going to play each other in a week, so they would surely not be showing out all their cards now, but even, this would be a good opportunity so see the fruits of their training. And no doubt, one thing was on all of their minds right now.

 _How strong did the rest get?_

* * *

 **Hey, a new chapter here with about 4k words. No basketball playing I'm afraid, this chapter is more of interactions and stuff like that. In this chapter I introduced all the GOMs to kind of set up the Interhigh. So, in the next chapter, it's basketball playing, although albeit not so intense, since it's just meant to like show off a little and to see how much they improved, and as stated, they won't be showing all their cards (saved for Interhigh, i thought of some ideas and improvements... so we'll see where that goes...). This arc in my opinion shouldn't be treated so seriously yaknow, its just a basketball game and all with the GOM again along with the other International players and what not. Basically, what i want is to really focus alot on the interaction before the actual Interhigh. Also, i made a poll so y'all can just vote to gimme an idea on the matchups (i roughly have an idea, but to see what my readers want also helps, right?) but yeah i was also curious to see if your matchups match mine. So that;s about it! Comment Review and favourite if you like!**

 **one of the reviews why i don't use Nash Gold, is because 1) admit it, he's abit too OP to use, especially when Akashi is just trying to regain his Emperor Eye and all, 2) this takes place before EXTRA GAME, so i try not to add in future characters, only maybe as cameo. Hope you understand!**

 **-kkkdragon123**


	10. Chapter 9 - Team Gold vs Team Black

**CHAPTER 9 - Team Gold vs Team Black**

"This blue haired player is Daiki Aomine, but you can just him Aomine," Momoi introduced to the other players in English, while Aomine stood behind her, observing the other Miracles at the ends of courts. "My name Satsuki Momoi, I'll be his translator since he sucks at English," she continued as she carried No.2 for Kuroko, causing the other teammates to giggle.

Aomine's team consisted of players roughly the same height as him, and from he could tell, most of them looked Caucasian, perhaps American or European, but they definitely do not look Asian. There were players of different sizes all around the court, but apparently his team consisted of players with physique similar to him and Kagami, so he could safely assume they were not the power type like Murasakibara or Nebuya from Rakuzan, but more of the agile type. A blonde player went up to greet him, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"I—err …" Aomine stuttered in English, but the other player smiled.

"I can speak a little Japanese, so it's fine," the blonde player said, causing Aomine to heave a sigh of relief, and Momoi to beam. He offered a handshake. "My name is Tony, nice to meet you, Mr Aomine!", to which Aomine gratefully accepted.

With that, Tony offered to translate in place of Momoi, much to chagrin of the players considering there was a real lady in front of them. On his team, it consisted of: Tony, Aomine, Jake, Evrard, Zach, to which Tony, Zach and Jake were from America, while Evrard was from Germany. Aomine naturally thought about their strength as they introduced themselves, although he tried as much not to think about that at the moment. _Strength comes later_ … he thought, but the traces of his old attitude started to prick him in the back. _Oh well… What happens happens…_

A few metres away, Kagami and Murasakibara were also introducing themselves.

"You can call me Kagami, and this big guy is Murasakibara," Kagami introduced fluently, while Murasakibara waved lazily. Clearly, these two men whom towered over the team intimidated the rest quite a bit. Their team consisted of: Kagami, Murasakibara, Li, Bryan, and Leon, where Li was from China, Bryan from America, and Leon from France, quite a diverse bunch indeed compared to Aomine's team. Luckily for them, due to Murasakibara's pathetic English that made communications rather difficult, they all agreed on using hand signals which suited all of them fine.

On the other side of the court, Midorima was also introducing himself to his team, who kept staring at his lucky item.

"My name is Midorima Shintaro, I'm a shooting guard," he said. The other players nodded, as his speech and voice made him seem rather authoritative, and his aura gave of a sense of dignity that no one had. His team consisted of: Midorima, Louis, Armich, Richard and Jayesh, where Louis and Richard were from England, Armich from Germany and Jayesh from India. Luckily for them, all of them could speak fluent English, so at least there was one less thing hindering Midorima from be antisocial.

Then, there was Kuroko, whom surprisingly felt valued when the others could notice his presence easily. As he was the shortest out of all the players, he felt that the others may unintentionally look down on him, but yet they did not. In fact, their mild quiet nature actually suited Kuroko better. His team consisted of: Kuroko, Zane, Ming, Damian and Gamon. Zane was from Norway, Ming from China, Damian from the US and Gamon from Thailand.

Kise, on the other hand, seemed to be a perfect match with his team. His bubbly nature instantly resonated with the other players who gave off the same wavelength as him: he tried to ask a girl that accompanying one of the players, which easily warmed him up to the other players when she blushed upon seeing his "pretty-face" appearance. Nevertheless, it was clear that they would surely get along. His team consisted of: Kise, Michael, Don, Bruno and Fiyaz. Michael and Don were from Italy, Bruno for Brazil and Fiyaz from Malaysia.

Despite there being multiple courts, the organisers eventually decided to simply use only one court per match, which meant a two hours for the first match, a short break for a late lunch, then another two hours of matches. The reason for this is one, the increasing number of people watching, which by now increased even more till almost a hundred people. Second, they all agreed that since this match involves many skilled and expert players, they did not mind sacrificing some time to just watch all the matches. The organisers also cut down the timings of each match to around 25 minutes instead of a full forty minute game, with 2 quarters so as to shorten some time. With that, all teams are set to play.

Using a lucky draw machine, the first match that is taking place, is: Team Black vs Team Gold; : Kagami, Murasakibara, Li, Bryan, and Leon VS Kise, Michael, Don, Bruno and Fiyaz.

 _Murasakibara and Kagami vs Kise huh_ , Aomine thought.

 _The ultimate defense and offense… and the peerless copyist, this should be interesting…_ Midorima thought.

Akashi and Kuroko simply looked serene. Despite the hype, there was a fair bit of commotion, since the audience mainly wanted to watch Kise battling Akashi or Aomine as it might be more interesting. Nevertheless, seeing how Kise would handle two Generation of Miracles level players at the same would be quite a sight as well.

The audience cheered as both teams made their way to the playing field, while the other players simply stood near the side to watch the match. Both teams went up to shake hands. As expected, upon meeting their opponents, the potency of the auras for the Generation of Miracles instantly rose.

"Yo, Kagami-cchi, instantly playing against you eh? This should be fun," Kise said in mockingly cheerful tone.

"Heh! I should thank the organisers… We can have our rematch right now you know…" Kagami said, his excitement radiating through his voice.

"Kise-chin… good luck~" Murasakibara whistled.

"Murasakibara-cchi! I have never played against you head on before, did I?" Kise said. "This should be quite interesting!"

"Mm… but I will win…" Murasakibara's voice dropped gradually, and his expression slowly tightened. Kise smiled, and went back to his team. _Heh, quite an interesting matchup… Kagami-cchi… Murasakibara-cchi…_

"Oi, Murasakibara, you better play seriously," Kagami said to the tall center. " Or else, I'll beat your ass later…"

"Don't worry; I won't be slacking off against Kise-chin…" There was clearly something about Murasakibara, as Kagami noted. His lazy tone was still there, but he definitely felt something rising up in him: the feeling was eerily similar to when Murasakibara was fully serious back in the Winter Cup, which is a good thing in Kagami's eyes.

"Are they strong, Kise?" Michael asked him seriously.

"Hmm, oh yeah… they are really strong," Kise warned. "Don't let your guard down."

"That guy can copy any move?" Li asked Kagami.

"Yeah, don't be surprised if he uses your own move against you," Kagami smiled.

"Oh yea… be careful against Kise-chin, the moment he grasp your moves, it is likely he can counter against it too…" Murasakibara said, which Kagami translated. The team shifted uncomfortably, although Kagami and Murasakibara did not bother.

"Players, get into position!" The referee commanded. "The tip off begins here, players step forward."

For Team black, naturally they got Kagami, since he could jump higher than Murasakibara, while for Team Gold, they got Don, who was the tallest player of the team.

"All the best," Kagami grinned.

"You too," Don said.

"Ready… 3 … 2 … 1 … TIP OFF!"

The referee threw the ball into the air, and both players instantly jumped. The ball reached its highest point and a hand easily caught the ball. Kagami, who was about the same height as Don, easily outclassed Don in terms of raw jumping power, and he easily caught the ball and flicked it back to his team. The audience roared. It appears Team Black would be starting first.

Leon caught the ball, and he took things to his own pace instantly. Being the speedy type, and he easily made it to the half court before a person from Team Gold got to him, and easily made a behind-the-back pass to Bryan who encountered Fiyaz. Without stopping, he made a behind-the-back crossover which Fiyaz followed easily but as he stretched his leg, Bryan used his receiving hand to bounce the ball between Fiyaz's legs in a fluid motion and drove past him. Aomine raised his eyebrows, as he recognized the sort of play as something similar to streetball, befitting his American orgins. Bryan got to the wing and easily made an alley oop to Kagami, who dunked the ball into the basket, scoring them two points. It was funny how easily Team Black scored in the first fifteen seconds without much difficulty. Despite playing for the first time together, it was clear that Team Black had natural team coordination.

"That was faster than I thought, haha," Michael commented.

 _Indeed_ , Kise thought, _but..._ as he observed Bryan, _that move is already mine._

Fiyaz restarted with the ball and he passed the ball to Michael who dribbled. He passed the ball to Kise who was at the half-court line as he immediately moved forward, and naturally met Kagami near the three point line. The commotion in the audience grew louder, as right in front of them was a match between a Generation of Miracle and a potential superstar.

"Yo, I'll be taking you and your Perfect Copy on!" Kagami said fiercely.

Kise smirked. "Sorry Kagami-cchi, I'm saving my Perfect Copy for later!"

Kise instantly made quick crossovers similar to Aomine, and although Kagami could follow them, he noted how he wasn't in his Perfect Copy state, which indicated his improvement in his stats _. Not good enough_ , Kagami thought, the ball still clearly in his sight. Kise smiled and quickly made a crossover to right hand which caused Kagami to stretch out his left leg, and like Bryan, he copied his move and bounced the basketball through Kagami's legs and drove past him, meeting Murasakibara who stood there lazily at the paint.

"Yo Kise-chin, try getting past me…" Murasakibara said as he took a defensive stance. Kise instantly took notice of his long legs and arms, but not before noticing Kagami behind him.

"That was Bryan's –" Kagami muttered, he remained unfazed. He could still catch him, and he turned around at attempted a back tip. However, there was a little bit of distance between him and Kise, and Kise turned his body in one sweep motion while making a crossover, with his sides facing Kagami and Murasakibara. In his attempt of doing a back tip, Kagami had to stretch out his right leg while turning and using his hawk-eye like vision, Kise used his receiving hand to bounce it through Kagami's legs once again while rushing past him, barely catching it near the side lines, causing the audience to roar in amazement. As Kise brushed past Kagami, Kagami could swore he heard Kise giggling at him, which made his insides burn. At the side line, Kise aimed for a shot, to which Murasakibara noted and quickly made a step forward and reached his hand out.

"Not gonna work, Kise-chin—" Murasakibara said, but his eyes widened when he saw Kise's eyes glowed slightly. His form was clearly not a normal jump shot, but rather he brought the ball to eye-level with his left hand palm, which his right palm at the back of the ball, ready to thrust it like a gun.

"Is that so, Murasakibara-cchi? If I remember correctly, you can't stop this shot…"

"Oh shit, this is Kuroko's—" Kagami snapped.

"—Phantom Shot," Kise smirked arrogantly as he took aim and pushed his right palm. The basketball seemingly left a trail of goldish hue as it burst through the air and seemingly through Murasakibara's hand. In reality, the ball disappeared out of the center's sight as Kise made a shot similar to Midorima's high projectile three, imitating his high arc to compensate for his lack of Kuroko's misdirection. Murasakibara heard the basketball enter the hoop behind him as he landed, scoring Team Gold three points. The audience cheered again, while the other players stared in shock and amazement.

 _What the hell_ , that player is totally crazy, Bryan thought angrily. After all, he had spent several months trying to perfect that move of bouncing the ball through the leg to use it in an actual game successfully in conjunction with the crossovers, but yet that man easily copied him and could even manipulate the move to fit his very advantage as though he already mastered it in a single glance. _God dammit…_ Bryan thought, but could not help be amazed at such skill as he unwittingly smiled.

"Shit… Kise-chin got me, huh…" Murasakibara muttered as he stared at his palm that he thought the ball had phased through.

"Heh… Murasakibara screwed up…" Aomine grinned. "Did he not learn to counter that move after all this time, or did he just not expect it?"

Momoi looked curiously to him. "I'm sure Mukkun improved in his own way…" she said worryingly, though Aomine did not exactly look convinced.

"Don't mind," Kagami nudged Murasakibara's arm, causing him to look at the redhead. "We can back at him next time." Murasakibara almost expressed surprise at the motivational comment that Kagami made, and quickly made his way back to his position.

Meanwhile, back in his court, Kise received congratulations from his teammates, who had never seen such skill performed at their age before. However, Kise frowned. Despite the successful shot, it would not be wise to attempt that shot again, as he had expected some buffer time for him to perfect his shot before the defender got to him, and he seriously did not expect Murasakibara to suddenly appear in front of him in such close proximity. It shocked him that in that fraction of a second, his accuracy wavered and declined when his line of sight was completely obstructed and his the fear caused his sense of direction to be momentarily lost, which was not supposed to be the case as for the Phantom Shot, the user was supposed to be able to see the hoop or at least know the direction if skilled enough to make the shot successfully. It would have been an insult to Midorima's perfect pinpoint accuracy if he had missed.

Akashi, too noticed this at the side lines, as he observed Kise's pained expression. While Murasakibara had not shown anything yet, it was painfully obvious his stats had too drastically improved, perhaps even more than Kise. _What will you do Kise?_ Akashi thought.

The points now were at 2-3, Team Black to Team Gold, only about half a minute had passed, and there was still about 12 minutes before the first half end. The Black Team once again restarted with Murasakibara and the game went on. As time passed, the score slowly increased, with players from both teams starting to show off their moves. Kagami made several two pointers and layups, although his pace was considerably slower than usual, Murasakibara on the other hand easily deflected all attempts to score from Team Gold such that the scores that they could get was through Kise's high projectile three (which he used sparingly), or through sudden quick fakes and alley oops. However, the highlight of the match was Kise imitating the other player's moves with extreme precision as well as ease. Team Black's Bryan's streetball style from America was easily copied using Aomine's freestyle as a base, enabling Kise to make quick fakes and crossovers. At one point, Team Black's Leon made an extremely quick Euro step dribble which consisted of dribbling forward in one direction and then immediately switch directions, used by many NBA players, and Kise easily copied this and even combined with Bryan's streetball style, making the move even more formidable. By the seven minute mark, the points have increased to 20-28, Team Gold to Team Black. Despite the advantage and point gap, the pressure on Team Black was immense, with Kise easily countering all of their moves, although Team Gold was not much different, having to defend against Team Black's coordination as well as break through Murasakibara's impenetrable defense.

The commotion of the crowd grew louder and their excitement boomed.

"Woah… neither team is holding up…!"

"Maybe Kise stands a chance?!"

Kagami was already panting slightly. He had not done anything serious yet, like going into the ZONE or attempting some of new moves he learnt, but he felt that if he did not do anything, the probability of Kise counteracting against them was pretty high.

"Murasakibara, how are you holding up?" Kagami asked roughly.

"Not too bad… they aren't getting through…" Murasakibara commented, although he seemed rather annoyed that he could not guard against three near-uncrowned kings level players at once. Even that was a tedious task despite managing to hold all of them down, but even more frustrating was not being able to do anything against Kise's high projectile three.

Kuroko at the sidelines asked Akashi who was beside him. "Akashi-kun, who do you think will win?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure," Akashi admitted. "Neither of them has shown all of their cards yet, but Kise has no doubt already seen through most of Team Black's moves…"

 _Furthermore, if Kise uses his Perfect Copy in bursts, he could easily dominate this game_ , Aomine thought, remembering his training with Kise. His stamina could easily outlast the time limit of Kagami's ZONE, but yet it does not appear like Kise is willing to use it, indicating there must be some sort of drawback to that.

Team Gold restarted the ball, and Fiyaz passed the ball to Kise. Kise made his way to the other half of the court and passed the ball to Don, who managed to make his way into the paint, avoiding Li. Upon meeting Murasakibara, he attempted a floater shot, which in theory, was good to use when you are not close enough for a layup, but also not far enough for a regular jumpshot. Furthermore, it is generally advisable to finish off against a tall defender. However, this may not apply to Murasakibara.

"Oi… oi… Are you seriously trying to score with that slow ass shot?" Murasakibara asked in mocking tone as Don flicked his wrist to initiate the floater. The purple-haired defender easily reached the ball when he jumped and rejected the ball with full force down.

"Not really…" Don smirked, having partially understand Murasakibara's Japanese.

As the ball landed on the ground, Kise instantly darted from the sides and grabbed the ball, his eyes glowing. In an instant while Murasakibara was still in the air, Kise jumped, and made a double clutch shot, traces of blue-ish aura rising from his body.

"Huh? Kise-chin, don't underestimate me…" Murasakibara said irritatedly, and he swung his massive right arm sideways, turning his body in mid-air. His hand was inches away from Kise's fingers, when Kise suddenly smiled, causing Murasakibara's eyes to widen.

"Sorry, Murasakibara-cchi, but can you catch up with this speed?" Kise muttered smugly as traces of green erupted from his body, mixing in with blue aura. In one motion, he flicked his wrist holding the basketball straight up, barely missing Murasakibara's large hand and the ball shot up into the sky like a bullet. The audience held their breath as the ball landed straight down into the hoop, the sound of it resonating through the court, as both Kise and Murasakibara landed.

"What was that?!"

 _Kise used Aomine's speed to grab the ball, and by tracing my accuracy and motion of my high projectile three, along with Aomine's formless shot, he is able to make a shot that has an exceedingly high arc just right below the hoop…_ Midorima thought to himself. It appeared that even he was impressed with Kise's vast improvement in his skills.

At this point, Murasakibara started to look seriously angry, seeing how he could not deal with Kise-chin at all. When Kise turned around to face him smugly in the eye, Murasakibara frowned harder than ever. The points increased to 22-28, Gold to Black, and although it was not much, at least the point difference was lowering little by little.

"Kise-chin…!"

The game continued on, with the points further increasing. Alas at by ten minute mark, the points had changed to 35-40, with Team Black still in the lead. At this point, Kise smirked. He was ready, and he did not need to hold back starting from now. Meanwhile, Kagami and Murasakibara felt rather annoyed that they could not stop Kise, despite Kagami's numerous dunks and two pointers. As such, team Black decided to keep this pace to maintain the point gap, and this safe style of play might help them win this match. On the other hand, team Gold had other plans.

"Everyone… would you mind passing me the ball for these two minutes?" Kise asked, causing the other members to raise their eyebrows.

"I'm sure y'all know I can copy other people's moves, that's why for these two minutes, I'm going to turn the tide in our favour. In exchange, for the second half, I'll need you support as my maximum time limit is generally about six minutes…" Kise attempted to explain, but the members roughly got the message.

"Sure thing, but what are you going to do?" Fiyaz asked.

"You'll see…"

Team Gold restarted the ball and Michael passed the ball to Kise who dribbled it to half court line. Instinctively, the Black team quickly rushed back to defend. After all, knowing Kise, his offense would instantly destroy most of the players there. However, he suddenly stopped and aimed the ball, his feet planted firmly to the ground, causing Kagami and Murasakibara to gasp in shock.

"Oh shit—"

Kise maintained a stoic expression, and then jumped. His eyes started to glow a bright gold and a green aura emanated from his body. The audience became silent and he released his shot. The basketball flew through the air as players and audiences alike stared at the red shiny ball. It made its way slowly, but surely, and then it reached in hoop from an extremely high arc. Even then, nobody seemed to doubt his accuracy. After a few painful seconds, the ball entered smoothly into the hoop with a hint of grazing the ring, and the sound resonated throughout the court. The audiences, players and organisers gaped in amazement, then after a brief pause, the crowd roared.

"What the hell?! From the half-court?"

"That's Midorima's three…!"

The Generation of Miracles was stunned. Despite seeing it before, witnessing that shot again still had the same impact that made them speechless. It seems Kise would be going serious right about now. The points increased to 38-40, Black to Gold. Kagami started to panick, as if he was not wrong, Kise would not be stopping here.

Team Black restarted the ball, and the ball ended up in Kagami's possession. Upon reaching the other half of the court, he met against Kise, whose eyes still glowed.

"Tsk…!" Kagami uttered, while Kise smirked as he dribbled the ball on the spot. _How should I go about this…!_ Kagami thought desperately, but in the midst of his swirling thoughts, Kise easily found an opening and knock the ball out of Kagami's hands. At the fraction of second, he could have sworn to see some red behind Kise. Kise instantly grabbed the ball and did another high projectile three, which naturally sank in, earning them another three points, and changing the points to 41-40.

Team Gold was left speechless with amazement. They could not believe such skill existed, especially with someone at their age, and were left shocked. The last two minutes were filled with desperation as Team Black attempted to regain their momentum but to no avail. They succeeded in scoring one or two two-pointers, but compared to Kise's continuous high projectile three, their efforts were completely in vain. Despite Kagami's attempt to jump and block Kise, he was always either screened by two players (Michael and Don respectively), was too far away, or simply being ankle-broken by the blonde copyist. By the last twenty seconds, the point gap had literally increased to 56-44 Team Gold to Team Black, truly a miracle.

"Kagami…! Can't you stop him…" Murasakibara asked angrily, his patience clearly running thin. But yet he was not exactly angry at Kagami's incompetence, but rather at Kise's overpowering abilities, coupled with the fact that he could still last another 4 minutes for their second half.

"No… I can't… there are too many obstacles…" Kagami gritted his teeth. At this point, Kagami was seriously considering going into the ZONE, but in doing so his stamina could easily drop to dangerously low levels if he unknowingly performed high level moves to score in the midst of his desperation and he could not risk that. In fact, it would be better to enter the ZONE in the second half.

"Then I'll do it," Murasakibara finalized, causing the rest of his teammates to stare at him in shock.

The game once again restarted with Murasakibara passing the ball onto Bryan who managed to make his way and met Fiyaz. With some difficulty, he managed to avoid him with a couple of crossovers, but he unfortunately met Kise, who easily predicted his moves by copying the Emperor Eye and stole the ball without hesitation. He quickly dribbled to near the free throw line widening in shock as he met the 2.10 meter center. At that point did Kise actually realize how tall Murasakibara was when standing face to face with him.

"Murasakibara-cchi…!"

Despite this, he quickly stopped and jumped, attempting another three-pointer that could easily assure his team's victory. Murasakibara darted forward with his supreme speed and jumped with his hands raised, easily towering over Kise's range and blocking his line of sight. Even the audience could tell that with Murasakibara's defenses right in front of Kise, attempting that three pointer shot might not, or rather, would not even succeed. _Not even you can make this shot with this wall in front of you, Kise-chin!_ But Kise suddenly smirked.

"Sorry, but I expected this when you came to defend me…" the blonde admitted in mid-air.

"Huh?!" Murasakibara snapped. With that, Kise quickly grabbed the ball from his shooting posture and flicked the ball sideways to right to Bruno, who stood at the wing ready to receive the ball. He easily caught the ball, and with hardly anyone defending, he easily scored that three-pointer just before the timer ran out. Kagami who was at the other side of the court could only watch helplessly as Team Gold earned another three points, thus finalizing the points for the first half as 59-42. Clearly, Team Black was in a pinch.

* * *

 **kkkdragon123! so im sure yall have read the message on top, so yep. At this point it's already about 4k words and I didn't expect it to be this long (describing the match and all), so expect the full chapter to be closse to 8-9K words? yep. So yea, that's all, wait for the update guys! There's still a second half to be played! In the meantime why don't yall take a guess to see who wins? Don't worry your opinions won't affect the outcome haha(my bad) since I already planned most of the stuff for this arc (who wins and whatnots). Also the matchups for the Interhigh is roughly decided already, you can also guess if you want! Till then, wait for the next update of this chapter! I promise yall gonna see some intense battling.**

 **UPDATE 29/8/16: I've decided to put this as a single chapter since I feel that it will flow better so here's this. Next chapter will continue the match!**


	11. Chapter 10 - Perfect Copy's Worth

**CHAPTER 10 – Perfect Copy's Worth**

At their respective resting areas, Team Black and Team Gold were currently having refreshments, and preparing for the next round. Unlike normal basketball matches which consist of 4 quarters, and a small break after 2 quarters, the players did not feel that exhausted yet since their first half last only twelve and a half minutes. Nevertheless, playing with the infamous Generation of Miracles of Japan still drained them, although mentally instead of physically.

"Wait, so that guy can continue that barrage for 4 more minute?!" Leon said, his voice clearly exasperated.

"Yeah… We gotta find some way to lock him down…" Li said, looking rather worried, and they had to find some way to do so in the next four minutes.

Kagami and Murasakibara did not look too surprised at the turn of events, considering they were already familiar with Kise's overpowering skills, although it did annoy them how he had not gone all out; the skills he showed were simply a polished version of what he showed at the Winter Cup, nothing new yet. Considering their situation, Kagami could only conclude that entering the ZONE would be the best way to win Kise, but Murasakibara had other plans.

"Kagami…" Murasakibara mumbled, causing Kagami to turn his head. It was clear that the center had something to say, so he relented. His basketball sense was probably more refined than Kagami's anyway.

"You look like you have something in mind…" Kagami smirked, as the other members eagerly leaned to hear Kagami's translation.

Hence, Kagami translated the plan, and Team Black nodded. This may work, somehow, against Kise's crazy power.

At the other end of the court, Kise noticed Kagami beaming, and turned back. The rest of the Miracles could also sense something powerful withdrawing from those two. _Let's see what you have planned…_

The referee blew his whistle and Team Gold restarted the ball. The audience as per usual were growling in excitement; after seeing Kise's perfect shots two minutes before the end of the first half, there was no way they would not want to see more. There were clear murmurings all around the court about who was going to battle who.

"I bet Kagami will take on Kise…"

"Yeah… those two, I've seen their match during the Winter Cup…"

 _Are you going to have your rematch now, Kagami-kun?_ Kuroko silently asked himself.

However, the audience roared after Bruno passed the ball to Kise. As though smoke was clearing around the basketball court, an overwhelmingly imposing figure came up to Kise, causing his golden eyes to widened. "Heh… I didn't expect you…"

* * *

"Kagami… could you let me handle Kise?" he asked.

"Huh? You mean let you go offense?" Kagami asked back. He did consider Murasakibara going in on attack, but to actually hear him say it was kind of surprising in itself.

"Yeah! Okay, then I'll defend!" Kagami grinned as he wiped away some perspiration. If anything, Murasakibara's natural offense and defense were probably greater than the other Generation of Miracles anyway, and he could also use this time to see how things would work out.

* * *

"… Murasakibara-cchi…" Kise smirked as he prepared to face the Generation of Miracle's Center.

Kise dribbled on the spot as he considered his options. Right in front of him, is Murasakibara, whose offense and defense could literally outclass him pre-Perfect Copy, and right at the paint, is Kagami, defending Team's Black's hoop. This could possibly be the worst situation right now: With Murasakibara directly in front of him, a high projectile three would instantly get rejected, so all that's left is to pass or drive past him, but even then the situation would not change much, as even if he were to get past Murasakibara, he might not get past Kagami, and it's not like the other players would stand a chance against these two monsters either. But then again, basketball isn't always a one-on-one game now, is it?

Kise turned his head and looked Michael who was on the left side of the court as he caught the basketball with his left hand, and prepared to pass. Murasakibara, whose eyes traced these subtle movements immediately, shifted his entire body to his right, his entire figure blocking out Kise's path, to which he smirked. It was so amusing how straightforward and naïve Murasakibara was in his personality as well as in his basketball sense; even back in Teiko, whenever an opponent attacks, he would defend, if they turn right, he would follow them, if left, backwards or forwards, he could easily block them out due to his superior physique, but this gave way to many swiss-cheese gaps in his plays. With Kise's right side unobstructed, he easily passed the ball to Fiyaz who caught the ball easily, while the blonde quickly got out of the center's way and dashed to the front in Murasakibara's wake.

Fiyaz attempted a jump shot to which Bryan jumped in retaliation to block it, causing him to pass to Don who rushed into the paint and met Kagami. He attempted a dunk and burst into the air. _Heh… doesn't it feel nostalgic looking at this from the outside…_ Kagami grinned. No matter, he wasn't going to let this sink in. Kagami too jumped and easily reached the ball at about three-quarter of his usual jump height and easily rejected the ball, causing Don to growl as he fell back down. However, to Kagami's shock, the ball fell into Kise's hands who sprinted and connected into a layup, scoring Team Gold another two more points as a tinge of blue traced his movements. The points transitioned to 61-42, furthering the point gap. The situation was now more serious than ever, because all Team Gold needed is one more point there would be already a 20 point gap, something Team Black needed to recoup in eleven minutes.

"Whoooo~" Murasakibara sighed loudly as he looked up into the sky, causing his team to look at him curiously.

"What's wrong?" Kagami asked, although he could already guess the answer. It struck him as odd that a year ago before he joined the Seirin Team, he would be shouting and picking up fights if his team were to ever to be outclassed this badly, to the point where he would probably start blaming his team. But yet at this point, his mind was oddly clear; he was infuriated as he didn't want to lose, but yet it wasn't the same anger that he would have displayed a year ago. Had he really become soft after a year of playing with Kuroko and the others?

"Pass me the ball… I'm going to crush Kise…"

Team Black restarted and as instructed, Li passed the ball to Murasakibara, who dribbled forward with surprising speed. The Generation of Miracles noted how focused his expression was; it was definitely not the usual goofy lazy young man that they all knew, but rather a competitive and stubborn center that hated losing more than anything, much like a child. Bruno attempted to defend him, but Murasakibara did not even see his opponent in his sights; all that matters was defeating Kise and winning this game. With the ball in his right palm at that instant, Murasakibara shifted his body to face the right and made easily crossed over to his left hand to avoid Bruno. With his huge figure, it became as though Murasakibara's back was screening Bruno from trying to block him, and furthermore, his imposing stature made Bruno naturally desire backing off from the roughness of his play. Murasakibara stepped into the paint, and jumped, easily scoring a dunk over Don.

"Shit… that guy is too… large… and fast…" Michael commented.

Team Gold restarted, and likewise they passed the ball around, making their way forward. However, a lapse in judgment caused Fiyaz to pass the ball to Kise right in Kagami's territory, allowing him to quickly dribble to the half-court line and passed to Leon, who successfully made a three-pointer. As for Murasakibara, who stood near the three point line of Team's Gold hoop, he did not have any qualms as long as they scored. He also noticed how irritated and pumped up he felt now, which was extremely unusual even for him; this level of excitement did not fit him at all, and he personally blamed Himuro Tatsuya for this. He sighed as he went back to his position.

"Be careful now," Kise said to his team. "Even if we have the advantage now, the moment we mess up, we are bound to lose, especially with those two." Even his team could feel the rising pressure from their Ace, and they all nodded.

 _This ain't a four quarter game, so we gotta take back our points quickly…_ Kagami frowned, _but can we really do it?_ But all there was left to do is to just play and see how it goes. The points now were 61-47, with Team Black in hot soup. Team Gold restarted again, and this time, they passed to Kise, who made his way to the half-court line and met Murasakibara once again, whose imposing figure that blocked some of the sunlight still made his heart skip several beats, out of fear. _If I can't use Midorima's three… Then how about Akashi's ankle break?!_ Kise's eyes glowed, and he crossed the ball over his legs, then behind his backs, to which Murasakibara followed.

 _This is Aka-chin's…_ Murasakibara observed, and no doubt the resemblance was uncanny. Having experience that before, he was able to roughly anticipate when Kise would cut back, and he shifted his feet cautiously. However, Kise did not waver, and shifted left and right unpredictably, threatening to break through Murasakibara's absolute defense, but he stood firmly where he was. If he fell here, they would be _screwed_.

"In that case…!" Kise's eyes widened and he channeled Aomine's acceleration and attempted a fast break to his right. However, Murasakibara easily followed this, covering and blocking his path with a single step, although Kise already expected this. In a swift motion where his golden observant eyes saw a split second into the future that Murasakibara's body weight would shift too far, Kise instantly cut back by dribbling the ball through his legs to his left, causing the center to fall.

"…!" Murasakibara's eyes met Kise's as he dribbled forward to the hoop. _Not this time, eh? Murasakibara-cchi…_

"Don't underestimate me, Kise!" Kagami exclaimed as he stood rooted at the paint, where Kise was dribbling in.

"Who is? I have never pulled my punches when I'm battling with the Generation of Miracles, Kagami-cchi!" Kise smirked arrogantly. Time seemed to stop, as Kise considered his options. He was at the three point-line near the wing, while Kagami was stationed near the free throw line, which meant that there was some distance in between them. He could drive in and score two points, using Akashi's ankle break or Aomine's speed where necessary, but then again he would rather score a three pointer to earn as much points. What matters now is not his one-on-one rematch with Kagami, but the team. Furthermore, at this distance, it's not as though Kagami would be able to reach him in time. With that in mind, time flowed back to normal, and Kise instantly stopped right at the three point-line and took aim. Kagami gasped, and immediately dashed forward, although by then Kise's feet were already leaving the ground. The audience gasped, and Kise got higher and higher and Kagami was still a meter away from Kise.

 _I have to jump—to stop Kise—!_ Kagami thought desperately. But he blinked as he saw a colossal black figure shrouded in blackness emitting a purplish aura. From Kise's point of view, this basket was already as good as his, having not deactivated his Perfect Copy yet, but then a shadow appeared from the edges of his field of vision. _What's this?_ Kise thought, as the shadow grew larger and longer, and he could see five small "things" protruding from it. His irises shifted upwards before noticing it was a hand, slowly but surely, covering his field of vision. At that instant, he felt something _big_ behind him. Kise's head turned in mid-air, and he noticed Murasakibara too in the air, attempting to block him from the back and with his immense height, his hand could easily reach above Kise's head and was inches away from the basketball.

 _Wait… did Murasakibara-cchi recover from the ankle break that quickly?!_ And a pang of terror stroke into Kise's heart. _No… don't panic, as long as I release the ball before he touches it, it will be okay…_ but despite his own self-reassurance, he could not help observing the positions of his teammates just in case he needed to switch over to pass. Michael and Bruno were out of sight, but Don was near the free-throw line, free. Kise's heart beat louder and louder, and just as he was about to release it, he felt something ominous behind him, and all at once, his anxiety reached a breaking point. _This shot won't make it—!_ And Kise quickly grabbed the ball down and thrust it to the side to Don, who looked surprised at Kise's decision.

Akashi, at the sidelines, frowned at this peculiar decision. _What's this feeling from Murasakibara that I'm getting?_ He thought. The Generation of Miracles all seem to look uneasy, after all, they all knew that deep down Murasakibara had more to him than his lazy side, and he had the potential to be extremely passionate at basketball, evident at his ability to enter the ZONE back at the Winter Cup, but yet, for Kise to panic this much before Murasakibara was nerve-wrecking to say the least, especially Kise of all people. The ball projected right into motion, and it flew straight into the direction of Don's grasp. _At least if Don gets the ball, it won't be that bad…!_ Kise grinned.

In an instant, somewhere far away, everyone felt something. The ball was still moving, slowly as ever, but the entire scene seemed to shift, the colors slowly changing to red. The Generation of Miracles all noticed this, and could all feel some terrifying from the paint, from Kagami. Gradually, his eyelids became more relaxed, and his gaze became more focused, tracing the basketball. They quickly turned back to look at Kise directly, whose expression were of pure shock. Reddish lightning flowed out of his pupils, and in an instant intensified.

"Spreading points are spreading points… Time to do this seriously…" Kagami said, echoing what Kuroko said to Kise back when they were in Teiko.

Time shifted back into the normal, and the scene regained its colour. Kagami burst forward and intercepted, catching the basketball with his right hand, while Don could not even think to react. To be able to react to that sudden change in motion was only allowed for prodigies such as Aomine, and with that Kagami sprinted forward, easily making the half-line as Kise and Murasakibara landed. In the ZONE, Kagami's physical traits were amplified so much that one could hardly believe it, as though the man was taking drugs, and by the time Kise turned and ran back, Kagami had already drove past Michael by crossing in the opposite direction when he made a crossover which Michael followed. Without any hesitation or defence, he rushed in and jumped, brushing off the dust against the ground. Within the moment of his air time that lasted aeons, Kagami palmed the ball with his master right hand, and swung it a full 360 degrees like a forward swing, the ball completing a perfect circle as it revolved down to his thighs, brushing past up his hips, over his shoulder, and completed it by jamming it into the hoop. The sound resonated throughout the court as the audience gaped, and then roared.

"Woah—! What the hell was that?!"

"Windmill dunk! I've never seen it real life before but –"

Aomine grinned. He was impressed that at the very least, one of his opponents had learnt a new move to add to his arsenal. Midorima observed this as he dissected that move: The windmill dunk was a rather advanced technique, and due to the momentum of jumping to dunk, most players could not attempt the full circular motion of the windmill dunk, but yet Kagami did without much effort. Furthermore, performing this move adds an advantage of having significantly more power than a normal dunk, which Kagami clearly capitalized on, along with his significantly longer air time that allowed him to time this move.

Kagami landed with the lightning tracing his fall, and quickly moved back into position, passing Kise, who glared at him, while looking amused at the same.

"Oi oi… don't go saying as though this was easy to do…" Kagami muttered after hearing the audience. "This took me weeks to perfect…" as he reminisced how he would screw up the timing of the windmill dunk, often by jumping too close or too far since while jumping, he is still moving forward and thus would cover much more distance with his ridiculously long air time. Nevertheless, he did not give up, and he was glad to finally see the fruits of his training.

The points changed once again, to 61-49, team Gold to team Black. The situation was slightly better for sure for Team Black, but not for Team Gold, for the other team had scored three consecutive goals. If they keep this momentum up, it might prove disastrous for them. _Geez… things aren't really looking up aren't they… Murasakibara-cchi on offense, Kagami-cchi on defense, and in the ZONE too…_ Kise mused. It seems holding back would not do him any good anymore; he would have to use the full extent of his Perfect Copy to be able to stand a chance of winning against them. The good thing however, was that his proficiency over it was much better than the Winter Cup, as he had not fully recovered then.

Team Gold restarted, and they passed the basketball to Kise, who caught it near the half court line. Murasakibara was near the wing, coming towards him and Kagami still there, at the paint, which could only mean – Kise's golden eyes flashed and he jumped, while Greenish aura rose from his body as his stance clearly that of a jump shot. This was different from before, with Murasakibara almost ten meters from him, Kagami over twenty from him. If either of them could reach him from their positions in a second, he would instantly quit basketball right now, he smirked. His eyes focused onto the hoop as his aim and accuracy steady increased, and the muscles in his right hand pulsed, channeling the strength required to project the high arc that Midorima used. Then, _swoosh_. The ball glided through the air and fell into the hoop, just like that, scoring Team Gold three points. The points changed to 64-49, which made Team Black's previous scores, seem obsolete. Kise's ability to shoot anywhere from the court was the real problem, and he could still carry on for another three more minutes. At this point, about five minutes had already passed, and there was still seven minutes to go.

Team Black restarted the ball, and Kagami started who passed the ball to Murasakibara, who dribbled forward. At this point, it was obviously clear that Murasakibara was very annoyed, clicking his tongue incessantly. Kise approached him, his eyes still glowing.

"Trying to get past me again? Murasakibara-cchi…" Kise giggled, causing Murasakiara's clicking to intensify.

"Urgghhh you're so annoying Kise-chin!" Murasakibara snapped, and he drove forward, his huge size bursting forward with enormous momentum. But above all else, Kise's Emperor Eye could predict anything, and he saw a fraction of the basketball's position into the future.

 _There!_

Kise's hand reached out, and flicked away the basketball from Murasakibara's large palm, causing him to growl audibly.

"Kise-chin –!"

However, Kise had already made his way forward to near the three point line, avoiding Li along the way by ankle breaking him as though he were an amateur, which was somewhat true relatively. Kise channeled Aomine's masterful control over his speed for a split second and decelerated instantly, stopping just right before the three point line, and jumped. _Another three eh?_ Kise giggled.

Out of nowhere, reddish lighting flashed forward into Kise's line of sight, and Kagami jumped to easily match Kise's height. _What the—Where did he come from?!_ Kise thought as his eyes widened, but he could not react as fast in mid-air, especially when he needed the concentration to perform Midorima's shot. In a swift motion, Kagami rejected the basketball forcefully out of Kise's grip, catching the ball as they both landed, however before Kise could activate his Emperor Eye in order to stop Kagami, he had already brushed past him just as Kise was turning around. Easily, Kagami passed the ball, to Murasakibara, who rushed in and dunked, scoring them two points, changing the points to 64-51. With the tenth's digit being only one less, the situation finally seemed less daunting for the Team Black.

 _No… at this rate, they will get it all back. I guess I'll have to make sacrifices…_

Team Gold restarted, with Kise starting, but all of a sudden, the familiar greenish aura rose from his body.

"Crap… He's starting with it…"Kagami muttered desperately.

The birds overhead in the sky flew. _Swoosh_ , just like that, easily… and the basketball landed into the hoop, earning the audience's applause. The points increased to 67-51. Another three points and the situation would have reverted to like before. However at this point, Kise's eyes stopped glowing and he deactivated his Perfect Copy.

* * *

 **Hey what's up guys! Another chapter here, and next chapter concludes the match. I'm sorry I didn't expect the match too be this long (but seriously, i really wanna describe and write alot of stuff! ) and even in the next chapter (still writing), its about half way done, but even after shortening the matches its already 2.5k words so yea... Anyway so this chapter is bascially Kise trashing Murasakibara and Kagami with his Perfect Copy and all. So yep! Enjoy, and wait up for the next chapter!**

 **Also, I'm making all the changes abt the title and adding extra content right about now, so yall see some changes in the story soon!**


	12. Chapter 11 - Match One: END

**CHAPTER 11 – Match One: END**

Kise turned to look at the timer, and he gritted his teeth. _Crap, I messed up…_ and he felt his anger rising due to his own blunder. The time now was 6 minutes and 30 seconds, which meant that he had about two and a half minutes worth of Perfect Copy left, especially after making that full court shot which took away precious seconds off his stamina. Still, he had to save his remaining time for the last two minutes of the game, no exceptions. He had done it now, even with his Perfect Copy, he had let Team Black catch up to them from a twenty point gap, to a ten point gap. _How could he have let Kagami and Murasakibara scored then? What an idiot…_ However, a hand tapped his shoulder, and as his anger somewhat subsided upon seeing Fiyaz.

"Save your energy for the last two minutes… We can still score, you know," he said smiling, causing Kise's eyes to widen in surprise. _That's right… they still have a 16 point gap, why is he getting so worked up for… you can't change the past…_

"Thanks," Kise said, and he meant it. At this point, he would have to use his Perfect Copy in bursts now. Previously he could not since he was facing Murasakibara and Kagami, and deactivating and activating again would take far too long to react to them in exchange for saving energy. This was one of the few weaknesses that he realized as he trained. Team Black restarted. At this time, Team Black would be making their comeback, and it was up to Team Gold to defend however they could. Li started and passed the ball to Bryan, who dribbled and passed the ball to Kagami, still in the ZONE, who met Kise.

"You can't defeat me without the Perfect Copy, can you? Especially now that I'm in the ZONE…" Kagami smirked, giving off an air of arrogance strikingly similar to Aomine.

"Tch…" Kise muttered. Even if he could not use any of the Generation of Miracle's power, he still could copy moves that were less skillful, and he had to rely on that along with his own physical ability. Kagami, however, easily shifted to the right by making a crossover, to which Kise attempted to follow, and with an extreme burst of speed, easily cut to the front and cross Kise, along with flickers of sweat brushing past him.

"…!" He had seen this speed before in Aomine, Murasakibara, Akashi, and Kagami himself, but it had never failed to shock him when it is used right in front him. Kise turned his head desperately but Kagami had already made his way to the wing of Team Gold's court. Michael attempted to guard him, but likewise, it was completely futile; the raw power of the ZONE was simply too formidable for an average player to stand up against. Kagami effortlessly slowed down his speed and then took a step forward to dribble, to which Michael shifted back to avoid knocking into him, although his arms were still wide open. All of a sudden, Kagami cut back and made a behind-the-back crossover out of Michael's range to his right, which left an open space that Kagami easily rushed through to the hoop, leaving a mist of his outline and traces of red lightning in his wake. _Isn't Yosen's Hirumo's fakes?!_ Kise thought, but Kagami had already scored another two points, upping the score to 67-53.

"Has Kagami improved this much?" Akashi pondered loudly, to which Kuroko replied, "Yes, believe it or not, Kagami-kun has been practicing really hard. In fact, he might be going overboard…" Akashi turned back onto the court as he observed Kagami run back into position. _More than I thought…_

Team Gold restarted. Luckily for them, players like Kise, Michael and Fiyaz could still chance a three pointer, whereas Don and Bruno were more of Kagami's type. Hence, they had to make use of their three players to keep the point gap up, and simply last till the timer reached ten minutes. First, get past Murasakibara, then Kagami. Next, score. That was all there is to it. Michael started and passed to Kise who dribbled forward. _Seeing how Murasakibara-cchi and Kagami-cchi is there, we probably have to go with alley-oops and run-and-guns_ , Kise thought as he dribbled. After all, a head on approach would never work.

"Kise-chin…" Murasakiabara breathed loudly, his voice menacingly low. Kise's eyes widened. _Wait… how the hell did I not notice him—?!_

Murasakibara instantly reached out for the ball in Kise's right hand in a fraction of a second, without any warning, causing Kise to gasp and quickly pull back, barely missing him by making a behind-the-back crossover. _No good… I can't do anything with him around_ , Kise thought as he observed Murasakibara's blood shot eyes. Without really thinking, he thrust the ball to the side to Fiyaz at the half court line, who made his way to the three point line, and attempted a three pointer.

"No—!" But it was too late, for Kagami had already burst forward and jumped, the impact blowing all the dust away, as he easily reached the ball and rejected it. The basketball flew out of the court, causing the referee to blow his whistle.

"Out of bounds, Gold Team's ball," the referee announced. As Kise moved into position, he took note of the timer now, 7 minutes 15 seconds. _Alright… just three more minutes…_

Fiyaz restarted at the side-lines, and the referee blew his whistle, signaling the start of the game. He passed to Don, who stood rooted at this position as he observed the other players: Kagami, in the paint, Murasakibara near the half-court line, Don and Bruno being guarded, so Kise then. He thrust the ball to Kise, at the three point line; however, it was no use. With someone in the ZONE, the player's speed is multiplied two or threefold, and Kagami appeared out of nowhere and intercepted the ball only seconds after the game had restarted.

"Eh—?!" Kise snapped; he had expected this, but still…

The audiences cheered as Kagami dribbled to half-court line and made a diagonal horizontal full court pass to Murasakibara, who was near the wing on the opposite side of the court. Murasakibara dribbled with extreme vigor to the hoop that was unguarded and jumped, making a dunk. However, Kise somehow managed to sprint his way to the hoop just as Murasakibara was about to jump.

"Not so fast, Murasakibara-cchi!" and he jumped with his hands out wide to block Murasakibara.

 _Kise_ , Midorima thought as he observed, _Murasakibara is considered the most physically strongest out of the Miracles, of course you…_

"Kise-chin…" Murasakibara's eyes were covered by the shadows. "You…" Kise's eyes widened. _Eh?_

… _Don't stand a chance,_ Midorima concluded.

"…DON'T HAVE ANY CHANCE!" Murasakibara shouted as he slammed down both of his hands. _W-what the hell is this strength?!_ Kise thought desperately as he felt his arms forcefully knocked away. Murasakibara jammed the basketball down into the hoop with overwhelming force and power, and without a doubt, completely destroyed Kise's defense. The sound of the hoop being forcefully slammed resonated throughout the court and the audience fell silent, and Murasakibara loosened his grip on the hoop, causing the creak dangerously. Kise fell down on his back with a loud _thud_ while Murasakibara landed instead with a loud _stomp_ , and they both glared at each other. Indeed, in terms of physical strength, Kise, without the Perfect Copy, would obviously lose to Murasakibara. The audience cheered, and Murasakibara turned back, and Kise quickly got back up on his feet, and clicked his tongue audibly. _Dammit, can't I match the other Miracles without Perfect Copy at all?_ Kise frowned.

"Kise-chin… If you really want to defend me next time…" Murasakibara said in his lazy voice. "Please use your Perfect Copy…" causing Kise to raise his eyebrows. "Or else, it wouldn't be… fun…" he finished and walked back to his side of the court. Kise couldn't believe his ears; did Murasakibara just… recognize him? Without thinking, he grinned stupidly to himself, and felt his heart melt. Kise started swing his arms and stretched on the spot quickly before looking back up again, and all the Generation of Miracles in the spectators could see something change in Kise's eyes. _Alright, since he accepts me now, let's not disappoint him…_

The points now were 67-55, and the timer was at 7 minutes 38 seconds. Kagami noticed the time, and took a deep breath. In the last two minutes, Kise will be making his counterattack, and he needed to save his ZONE stamina for then. With that, Kagami deactivated his ZONE and the reddish lightning stopped oozing out of his pupils, causing his teammates to note how his aura diminished rather drastically. _Alright, we'll keep scoring, with me and Murasakibara…_ Kagami thought.

"Eh… no ZONE already…?" Kise called out in a mocking tone, and Kagami frowned irritably.

"It's saved up for later…" and Kise grinned. Team Gold seemed rather more relaxed now as well, for the ZONE really kicks up the pressure in the court.

The game restarted with Team Gold, and for the next two and a half minutes, Team Black made their comeback. They capitalized on the fact that Team Gold's ace could not score as much, and instant grabbed this opportunity. Team Gold's Michael managed to make his way to the paint through passes and attempted to score, but was blocked by Murasakibara who passed to Kagami and he made his way to the other court. He passed upon meeting Fiyaz to Li, who managed to successfully make a layup, increasing the points to 67-57. Team Gold once again restarted, and through passes, managed to score 2 points with Kise bypassing Kagami, hence changing the points to 69-57. Team Black started once again and Kagami passed the ball to Leon who managed a three pointer, thus shifting the scales of the points to 69-60. Team Gold started again, and Kise attempted to get pass Murasakibara's defenses but it failed due to Murasakibara's pure defensive power, and it ended up with Team Black scoring another 2 points from Kagami's dunks, hence the points changed to 69-62. It amazed the audience how during the first half, Team Gold could literally score over six consecutive three pointers, and now, Team Black has managed to score consecutively for over five to six times to get back onto track. Team Gold scored another three pointer from Fiyaz through Kise's use of Kuroko's passes, but Team Black instantly caught back when Murasakibara made a half court pass to Bryan who made a three pointer, hence tipping the points to 72-65. However by the 9th minute, Team Black managed to score another three points leading to 72-68, a mere four point difference.

At this point, the players were all rather exhausted already, despite there being three minutes left. Team Gold restarted, and they made their way to the Team Black's court, with Kise making his way to near the three point line and met Murasakibara. The large center simply stood there, readying himself against Kise. Kise made a crossover to his left, and quickly turned around attempted to drive past against him, but Murasakibara was too quick for him; his long slender arms had already reached Kise before he could turn fully and in a second of hesitation, Kagami came long and managed to tip the ball, acquiring it and made a fast break to the Team Gold's court and scored two points, finally dropping the point difference to only two, with Kise lacking behind him. Right now, unlike nine minutes before, Team Black sure stood a chance of winning.

The timer reached 9 minutes and 10 seconds, and points were at 72-70. Team Gold restarted, but Kagami noticed that was something was strange about Kise; he seemed to be in a happier mood than usual? Before the match restarted, he seemed to be telling Fiyaz something important, judging from his serious nods. Nevertheless, the basketball made its way into Kise's possession that made his way to the three point line, and without thinking, jumped for a three pointer. However, Murasakibara appeared and too jumped.

"Kise-chin… you're not using Perfect Copy yet…" he uttered lazily, but Kise did not seem to bother with his opponent's comment, but on the other hand, was using all his efforts to aim. This was rather odd considering Kise would usually reply with a smug expression or comment. Murasakibara sighed, and just as Kise was about to release the ball, and he slammed the ball out of Kise's palms, but his eyes instantly widened when he saw Kise smirking.

Miraculously, the ball flew out of Kise's palms backwards as they both landed, and Fiyaz was there, who instantly caught the ball in surprise. When Kise told him to stay close behind him, he thought this order was rather weird, but how did Kise know that the ball would –? "Murasakibara has a penchant for slamming his hands down and knocking the ball away, in fact, I've observed that the ball often gets flicked out straight down, not sideways or diagonal, but in his direction… so let's try this…" Kise instructed a few minutes before. Once Kise landed, he sprinted to the other side of the three point line, catching the ball while running, and quickly stopped on the spot, his feet just on the line itself. Kagami, on the paint easily followed this and caught up to him.

"Oi oi Kise… you aren't seriously trying the same thing again, are you?" Kagami muttered and he got higher and higher, the red lightning intensified.

"No, Kagami-cchi… I'll be making a gamble here…" Kise smirked, and bluish aura rose from his body and his golden eyes started to glow.

 _No way, he wasn't supposed to start using it until the ten minute mark_ , Kagami thought, but in one swift motion, he pulled the ball down and passed it to his left hand in mid-air. Kagami's eyes traced the movement of his hands, but he could not do anything to stop it, especially with his hands raised out. Then, in a manner similar to Aomine, Kise shifted slightly to the left in the space beside Kagami, and flicked the basketball up into the air as they both landed, and miraculously, the ball fell into the hoop. However, since he had moved into the paint, the shot only counts as two points, but nevertheless the points shifted to 74-70. When Kagami landed, he noticed that the timer was only at 9 minutes 30 seconds, but quickly turned to face Kise as soon as he felt a violent and potent golden aura rising from Kise. The audiences and players alike could feel it, as though the ground itself was trembling.

"I know I'm supposed to use my Perfect Copy at the 10 minutes mark, but if I had to sacrifice my body for the extra 30 seconds needed to win… Why not?"

Team Black restarted and Kagami dribbled the ball forward, and met Kise, whose eyes were now glowing more intensely than before. The man before was clearly different from the one from two minutes ago. _Crap, without my ZONE I can't take him one-on-one!_ Kagami thought, and attempted to thrust the ball to his side to Li, who could receive it. In that instant, time stopped and the entire scene became magenta and black, and Kagami's pupils shifted to observe Kise, who was free to move in this dimension. He could a silhouette of Akashi rising in the form of a black mist, and then… Kise's fingers touched the ball, and ripples appeared as though he was touching a vertical pool of water. Kagami blinked. The air started flowing; the noise from the crowd is coming back… Then – Kise intercepted and slammed the ball down onto the ground. Kagami and Li gasped, but Kise had already caught the ball and was prepared to drive forward.

"No—!" Kagami exclaimed as he reached out his hand to attempt a back tip, but a tinge of blue appeared as Kise suddenly slowed his movements drastically, and expertly made a between-the-legs crossover while walking with no breaks in his movements. He turned his head as time slowed and the background seemed to shine in bright light as they both made eye contact. Then, Kise smirked, and time once again flowed to normal, and Kise racked up his speed and avoided Bryan with an ankle break, and then spun around. With no form at all, Kise simply threw the ball upwards in a high arc, and the ball simply… entered the hoop, scoring them two points and shifting the points 76-70. The audience cheered as some of them could recognize Aomine's famous formless shots. Team Black restarted once again and Kagami noticed Kise stationed near the half court line, ready to spring upon them. _Okay… time to go into the ZONE…_ Kagami thought, as his eyes met with Murasakibara for a moment. _Yeah… let me handle Kise-Chin…_

The ball made its way to Li at the half court, but he managed to pass before Michael could get to him, all the way to Murasakibara, who caught the ball near the paint. Kise rushed in from the sides, as smoke rose from Murasakibara's feet.

"Kise-chin… you said just now then you won't pull your punches with the Generation of Miracles, right…" Murasakibara growled, his voice dangerously low. Kise raised his eyebrows as he ran to the hoop. _This aggressive way of talking can only mean Murasakibara-cchi is serious._

The force of Murasakibara's soles acting on the ground skyrocketed and the smoke cleared in one burst as he jumped, his back facing the hoop. The sheer power of his calves was tremendous, and he leaped into the sky as his body shifted and twisted 180 degrees. However, Kise did not let up, for his irises glowed in an instant and he leaped, channeling Murasakibara's monstrous strength, with traces of purple rising off his slender body. A second passed, Murasakibara was already facing the hoop, and he was facing face-to-face with Kise, whose jump height matched the large center, with his hands out. However, both of Murasakibara's hands were also on the basketball, at a ninety degrees arc, ready to slam down. "In that case… I won't…" Murasakibara whispered softly to Kise, his purple hair flowing smoothly in the wind.

"—HOLD BACK!" Murasakibara slammed down the ball with full force down onto the hoop, meeting Kise's palms along the way. Kise gritted his teeth, the purplish aura now violently radiating from his body. This wasn't as bad as compared to before, in fact this dunk was much more bearable, despite the monstrous amount of force crushing him. _No… I won't lose… I REFUSE…!_ Kise thought desperately. Both players were in mid-air, one going for a full dunk with all his strength, and the other blocking with all his might, as the audience watched silently. Veins popped out, joints cracked, and muscles flexed completely, as both players were unrelenting, but then Kise gasped. _No—His strength is increasing further?!_ In one go, Murasakibara growled and pulled his arms with the strength of two normal basketball players, and instantly broke Kise, slamming the ball right into hoop, causing it to resonate louder than ever. Kise fell on his back, Murasakibara landed and the audience cheered. Unlike before, the stress and pressure had already got to Kise, and he was hardly smiling, while Murasakibara quickly shifted back to position without saying a word. Clearly, the intensity of the match heightened as the points shifted back 76-72.

"Wow… Mukkun actually beat Ki-Chan in strength…" Momoi wondered aloud in surprise.

"Why are you surprise?" Aomine said, causing her to look at him. "If you're talking about pure strength, Murasakibara is unquestionably the strongest, period," he explained as he observed Kise. "But, Kise's strength lies in copying the rest of us…"

"That's right, in fact…" Midorima commented beside Momoi, "Kise's true power is his versatility… he can literally use any of our moves, which none of us can do…" causing Aomine to mumble "Where the hell did you come from?"

"So does that mean Kise can't beat any of the Generation of Miracles in a one-on-one if he copies their skills?" Momoi asked, after all having never seen Kise using the Perfect Copy against the other Generation of Miracles. At this, Aomine smirked stupidly, while Midorima adjusted his glasses.

"I don't mean to brag but, probably not," Aomine said. "An imitation of our styles and moves can't be better the originals, not in our cases anyway…"

"That's why Kise could not truly match Murasakibara in strength. He simply doesn't have it no matter how he tries to imitate it by jumping higher or hitting with more force, in fact," Midorima explained as the match restarted.

"However…" Midorima spoke up, "Kise can use four other styles and skillsets, no?" causing Aomine to smile and Momoi's eyes to widen. The audience roared and the trio looked back onto the court. Kise faked a jumpshot just as Murasakibara jumped to block him, and he easily drove past him, traces of blue and red mixed in his aura. _That's right… Kise can't use Midorima's three if Murasakibara's there… he's too tall I guess…_ Momoi thought, but Aomine interjected her thoughts.

"Hey now… Kise isn't just playing against Murasakibara now…" Aomine said.

"Ooh!" the audience, for Kagami had appeared in front of Kise, surprising him. Red lightning was flowing out of his eyes as he stood there, just like a wild tiger waiting to pounce on his prey. The reddish aura he was giving off rivaled that of Kise's own golden aura, although Kagami's was more wild and cackled fiercely, compared Kise's slightly milder but yet potent one.

"Perfect Copy vs ZONE, huh?" Aomine wondered audibly, remembering his own practice match with Kise, who was definitely not to be trifled with. In fact, the only thing that actually put Kise down, were Murasakibara's height and strength, traits of his own body and factors he could not control. Apart from that, with the Perfect Copy, Kise was easily dominating just before the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. Kise's eyes darted towards the timer. _10 minutes 37 seconds… Alright, enough time to play with you then…_ He thought, and Kagami was thinking exactly the same. _We never really did get to compete like this during the Winter Cup…_

The glow on Kise's eyes instantly intensified as he activated Akashi's Emperor Eye. Time stopped, and he saw an outline of his Kagami's movements… a step in front with his left leg, and his weight shifts that way too… Time flashed back in an instant, and in a swift motion, Kise made a behind-the-back crossover to his right to which Kagami did step forward with his left leg, and the resultant weight cause him to lose his balance and fall to his left. _No… not yet!_ With a huge amount of effort, Kagami managed to hold on, and quickly stepped forward and attempted to block Kise, who was still in the middle of his crossover. _Not bad, Kagami-cchi… your reaction in the ZONE sure is fast… but not as fast as that man…_ And with that, the moment Kise received the ball with his right hand, he instantly made a between-the-legs crossover to his left hand, causing Kagami who following him closely to actually fall forward and land of his knees beside Kise. Their eyes met, and Kise whispered softly, "Too bad…"

"KAGAMI! FORWARD!" Murasakibara suddenly exclaimed as a large shadow passed by Kise. Kagami instantly took note of this, got up and sprinted forward; his sweat brushing off his face, for Murasakibara had managed to thrust the ball out of Kise's hands from behind just as he was aiming for a three-pointer. " _?!_ " Kise's expression was nothing but surprise as his eyes widened, but yet oddly his mind was calm, as he watched the ball left his hand. "Murasakibara…" Was it surprise, his usual cheerful tone? No… this felt different, as Murasakibara noticed that Kise was smiling, despite frowning. His voice was that of pure anger. Blue aura instantly burst forth from Kise's body, and he turned and sprinted, just as Murasakibara made a full court pass to Kagami who had just reached the wing, and caught the ball.

 _Now's my chance!_ Kagami panted, as the red lightning gushed out. His feet reached the free throw line, before he noticed something blue at the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Kagami-cchi… What makes you think you're faster than me with the ball?" Kise said aggressively, still smiling.

"Kise?" Kagami gasped, but it was no use; all he had to do was just make a layup, and he would score…! But reddish aura radiated from Kise's body as he observed Kagami's arm, and Kagami's own eyes widened. _Akashi—?!_ But it was no use, for Kise had already leaped and flicked the ball out of Kagami's own hands. However, out of pure luck, the ball flew out of bounds, to which the referee blew his whistle, and luckily for Kagami, it was their ball. The other players quickly gathered, although it was obvious they could hardly do anything in this situation. Kagami started from the sidelines, and Kise stationed himself near the free throw line, although it was noticeable that he was panting heavily; the stress of facing two Generation of Miracles players simultaneously was simply too much.

 _Kise… he's feeling it in his body…_ Akashi thought as he observed him closely, for it was painfully obvious that Kise was going to reach his limit. The referee blew his whistle, and Kagami threw the ball to Murasakibara, who caught it and drove forward to Team Gold's hoop. However, Kise interjected easily, and with his perfect imitation of the Emperor Eye, he stole the ball while Murasakibara was in the middle of dribbling, causing him to utter "tsk".

"Fast break!" someone in the audience yelled, as Kise sprinted forward whilst dribbling towards Team Black's hoop and channeling Aomine's speed, which was left unguarded. Kise smirked arrogantly as he passed the half court line, and was about to reach the hoop, before noticing a ferocious animalistic feeling on his left.

"Hey, Kise… then let me ask you…" Kagami growled softly, mist rising from his mouth like a wild beast. "What makes YOU think you're faster than me?!"

Kise gasped, and instantly stopped at this position just after the three point line, causing Kagami to overstep him. Without wasting any movement, his hands reached out and he aimed for the basket. At this point, even two points would be enough, and he released the ball without even looking down, for he was sure Kagami would not be able to catch up to him. However, to his shock, a hand reached out and caught the ball, for Kagami jumped and with his monstrous jumping power, he could easily reach the basketball in the air despite being about two meters away from Kise himself. The reddish lightning cackled, and whilst in mid-air, he palmed the ball and threw the ball with all his might to the other side of the court. Kise turned his head desperately as the ball flew through the air like a bullet and prepared to run, but stopped as Kagami landed behind him.

"Oi… surely you can't copy Aomine's speed for that long right? Even I noticed that…" Kagami commented as the lightning's intensity diminished a little, causing Kise's eyes to widen. He was right, and even if he sprinted, he definitely could not reach the ball, which meant… Murasakibara caught the ball and easily dunked, scoring Team Black another two points, causing the audience to cheer once more. The score shifted to 76-74 Gold to Black, and Kise sighed disappointedly.

"Oh man… they are catching up…" he mumbled, his tone slowly returning to his usual cheery and pouty manner. He noticed the timer: 11 minutes 12 seconds.

 _Heh, if Kise's gonna win_ , Aomine thought, _He's gonna need a three pointer_ , and it wasn't just Aomine thinking that, in fact all of the players there were all thinking the same thing. To truly tip the scales in their favor, something drastic is needed, and both teams knew it. There will definitely be a three within this last minute and 45 seconds.

The match continued. It was an all-out battle, for the next thirty seconds, it was non-stop dunks, rejection of shots, ankle breaks. The heat in the court intensified even further, but neither team would give in. It was amazing how the first match of the day could be this intense, but nevertheless nobody was complaining. It was extremely intense and exciting to watch such a match. Team Gold restarted, and through multiple passes, Kise managed to score a layup, by initiating one of Aomine's formless shot by surprise that caught Murasakibara off guard, although Team Black miraculously returned the favor with another three pointer from Li, increasing the points to 78-77.

Team Gold restarted and Don passed to Kise. At this instant, Kagami instantly sprinted forward towards him. He was not going to let Kise score that three no matter what, not at this point in time. Kise caught the ball and dribbled forward, and quickly made a pass to Fiyaz who made a bounce pass to Don near the half-court line. Kise darted forward as he observed Murasakibara near the paint. _Crap… right now the only person who can probably get around Murasakibara-cchi is me… A one-on-two sure is a pain…_

However, he was followed closely Kagami, akin to wild tiger stalking its prey. With this, he'll have to chance an ankle break to shake Kagami off first, and then he can get around Murasakibara with passes. As he reached the near the wing, he called out to Don who was on the other side of the half-court line, who passed to him instantly, and Kise easily caught it with his right hand. _Murasakibara-cchi's defensive area is pretty wide… easily spanning the entire paint…_ Kise thought as he dribbled, but he knew Kagami was hot on his tails. He closed his eyes for a second, and then flashed it open, revealing his golden hue. _Here it comes!_ Kagami thought. Time slowed down, and the Kise suddenly slowed his movements down drastically despite still dribbling, clearly Aomine's deceleration. However, Kagami managed to keep his distance and not pass him to which Kise made a between-the-leg crossover, which caused Kagami to accidently overstep and fall forward, but despite this he still managed to hold on. As Kise caught the ball with his left hand, Kagami attempted a steal, but Kise instantly cut back, causing Kagami to fall on his back while turning around.

… _!_

Kise's eyes lay on the timer for a second. 11 minute 58 seconds. With that, he instantly passed the ball to his left, but his eyes widened in shock when a huge shadow intercepted the ball. It was only then he realized that he himself overstepped his own boundaries, for he was somehow near the three point line already, and all it took was Murasakibara to shift a few steps to rule over that area. Easily, Murasakibara intercepted the ball, and sprinted forward with the ball. Both Kagami and Kise instantly took off chasing the ball, their eyes flashing lightning and golden spots respectively. _Heh… Murasakibara-cchi's full court am not that fast either…_ And with that, Kise caught up to Murasakibara right at the three point line. _If I can't block you… I'll steal the ball…!_

Kise's eyes once flashed again and he channeled Akashi's Emperor Eye. The basketball bounced up and down, as though in frames. Slowly, but surely, Kise effortlessly saw a moment into the future where the basketball was going to land, and concluded that he would be making a dunk. However, as long as he could hit the ball out of Murasakibara's hands before he slammed it, it would be enough. Murasakibara jumped, his eyes aiming for the hoop as he took off the ground. Kise sprinted beside Murasakibara on his right and jumped as well, his right arm reaching out. Murasakibara was dunking with his left hand, which meant it could be rejected in mid-air. It was a matter of timing.

"No…" Kise uttered.

All of a sudden, Murasakibara pulled his hand down to avoid Kise, and threw ball to the back. _Murasakibara-cchi passed?!_ Kise thought wildly, and he was not the only one who thought this, for all of the Generation of Miracles' eyes widened when they all saw Murasakibara passing, especially when he was dunking. In fact, they could not remember a time where Murasakibara would pass the ball at the last minute; he would usually follow through with his movements.

"Annoying… but I don't want to lose to you…" Murasakibara uttered as his smooth flowing purple hair flowed in the wind, and his eyes turned to Kise. "Kise-chin…"

Kise turned his head in mid-air as both of them started to descend to see who Murasakibara had passed to and as expected, Kagami busted forward from the three point line and full speed and caught the ball.

"Only this once… DUNK IT KAGAMI!" Murasakibara shouted as he landed.

"YEAH!" Kagami roared as his right foot stepped on the free throw line and he jumped, clearing the dust off the ground while the red lightning flashing from his eyes intensified. As he approached Kise, who could do nothing but fall in mid-air, whereas Kagami himself was getting higher and higher, but he was intentionally not reaching the hoop, for once he reached his maximum height, his entire upper body above the hoop, he slammed down his hand so fast, that all he could hear was the sound of the hoop resonating after the basketball had perfectly shot into the hoop like a bullet, leaving a trail of red as he dunked over Kise. _So this is… the Meteor Jam…_ He had seen it before of course, but had never experience it like this up close before. However, the points had reached 78-79, and the timer was already reaching 12 minutes 5 seconds. There was only twenty precious seconds left.

Team Gold restarted and Kise caught the ball, and dribbled forward instead, meeting Kagami just barely beyond the three point line. _Another matchup, eh?_ Kise mused, and he dribbled on the spot, as he observed Kagami. His defensive range was that of a large circle, which in the ZONE, stretched all the way to the half court line, and without Akashi's Emperor Eye, it would not have been possible to win all this while. _However, not now…_ To Kagami and most of the player's surprise, Kise took the ball in his right, and passed it over his body to his left similar to Kuroko, to Fiyaz, who too looked surprise. _What's Kise doing?_ Kagami thought as his eyes darted between Kise and Fiyaz who dribbled to the Team Black's side of the court, the lightning cackling audibly.

Fiyaz dribbled quickly as the clock ticked, then passed to Michael upon meeting Team Black's Leon, although it was hardly a good decision, considering Murasakibara's defensive area was the entire region beyond the three point line to hoop. Easily, Murasakibara rejected a jumpshot, and dribbled back towards the Gold's side of the court. But oddly, Kise had not moved at all, with Kagami shifting near the half court line. The timer ticked.

 _What… am I doing? Why… did I pass that ball just now? Have I lost my will to play?_

Kise found himself surrounded in blackness. He was panting heavily, frowning, but his mind was blank. Murasakibara-cchi… Kagami-cchi, this match is really great… to be able to fight and match against two players of this caliber at once… But… _Am I not playing seriously?_ Despite saying that, his heart was thumping loudly, and time felt frozen. The time was 12 minutes 10 seconds, so just twenty seconds left. All he had to do was sink in one three pointer and he would win, no? But this feeling… what is it? Excitement? Perhaps… no if I think this through… I want to fight Kagami and Murasakibara right? Yes… that was it… but no… not like this… He knew he was competitive and hated to lose, but yet right in his mind, this crazy thought was on the verge of overthrowing his rational thoughts. Then again, there wouldn't be any more chances for a match like this to happen right?

 _"_ _I'm not mature enough to play basketball logically or while suppressing my instincts._ _"_

Murasakibara passed the half court line, with Kagami following closely when all of a sudden, Kise looked up. His eyes were still glowing, but differently from before. The timer was at 12 minutes 13 seconds. In an instant, time froze, and the scene was overlaid with golden hue. Both Murasakibara and Kagami felt this before: Emperor Eye. But this was different; it was much stronger than before. _Kise's imitation, is on a different level than before?_ Kise walked forward in that dimension, no, Akashi, no what's this? Aomine? _What's this?_

Time flowed back to normal, but unlike the forced and rushed feeling from before, this time it felt more natural. Murasakibara and Kagami blinked, but and Kise rushed in, a clear sign of a two-on-one battle. It was painfully obvious Aomine's speed was in use, but they could too feel Akashi's Emperor Eye?!

 _No, this was different from just combining like in the Winter Cup_ , Kagami thought.

 _Kise-chin… feels like an actual Mine-chin and Aka-chin…_ _not just a copy…_ Murasakibara voiced.

Kise burst forward, and his hand perfectly flicked the ball out of Murasakibara's palms and in a swift motion, easily caught the ball and met Kagami along the way. Red lightning flashed from his eyes and he spread out his arms wide to block Kise, whose eyes glowed more intensely now.

 _What am I fighting for…?_ The scene where he lost against Aomine-cchi flashed in his mind, then the scene at the Winter Cup where he lost against Kagami-cchi and Kuroko-cchi. Did he become soft? Was he not competitive enough? No… all he wanted to is to have fun… but…

 _I cannot lose…_

Something cackled. The timer was 12 minutes 16 seconds.

 _No… ZONE?!_

Kagami could not see it clearly, for Kise had just brushed past him, with him somehow falling down on his back. In a few seconds, Kise scored a dunk, shifting the points to 80-79 Team Gold to Team Black, at the 12 minutes 20 second mark. There was only ten seconds left. Team Black's last chance to score. Kagami got up, and observed Kise, who seemed rather quiet now. He didn't know happened to Kise earlier, but he was sure that his enhanced movements had not subsided one bit. Despite this, he was yet unsure if he saw a glimpse of Kise in the ZONE, as for that fraction of a second he could feel it. But now, that feeling was gone. Was he imagining things?

At this juncture, Kagami offered to start the ball as he could feel that he had already approached his limit. His insides were already burning, and he had to save energy till the next match. He had already conveyed his plan to Murasakibara and though he did not say much, he agreed. There was no other choice to win. The referee blew his whistle.

Time seemed to stop. Every single eye was on the court. The countdown begins.

Ten. Kagami had only one shot before his ZONE was depleted. He pulled back his hand. In one full swing made a half court pass all the way to Murasakibara. In an instant, the reddish lightning in his eyes vanished.

Nine. In one full swing made a half court pass all the way to Murasakibara. In an instant, the reddish lightning in his eyes vanished.

Eight. Murasakibara caught it and his right foot left the ground. Kise's left feet left the ground as well.

Seven. Murasakibara caught it and his right foot left the ground. Kise's left feet left the ground as well. At this point, Kagami could only watch, as his knees hit the ground.

Six. Murasakibara's feet reached the three point line. Kise was right on the left side of the hoop.

Five. Murasakibara's feet reached the three point line. Kise was right on the left side of the hoop.

Four. Murasakibara reached the paint, and he jumped. Kise dashed in to in between the hoop and Murasakibara and too jumped. Kise was clearly different, at this point, despite Murasakibara defeating Kise in strength, everybody could not question the outcome.

Three. "Murasakibara-cchi… stop it…" Kise muttered and the shadows covered his eyes. "I won't…" And he looked up, revealing his golden glowing eyes. "Let you win…" and purplish aura radiated out more intensely from his body, like an explosion. Murasakibara however kept silent.

Two. This was point where the distance was perfect. All Murasakibara had to do was slam the ball in.

"Kise-chin… I don't… wanna…"

Kise's eyes widened. _No… He had seen this before, but now of all time…?_

One. Purple lightning flashed out of Murasakibara's eyes, causing Kise to gasp. In a fraction of a second, the entire situation changed. Murasakibara hammered his hand down, and hoop resonated louder than ever.

Zero. Murasakibara and Kise landed, and the entire court was silent. The game had ended for the time is up. They all stared at the scoreboard; the points were 80-81, Team Gold to Team Black. The silence was louder than ever, the announcer put the microphone to his lips. Then –

"MATCH ONE HAS ENDED! TEAM BLACK HAS WON THE FIRST ROUND!"

The audience roared and applauded for that wonderful match. The glow in Kise's eyes faded, and instantly he felt his calves weakening, but yet the pain could not compare to his loss. It was only the first match, and to just lose like that? His face was burning, and he could feel tears welling up his eyes, but more importantly, he quickly lost balance for his knees gave way; he had really used up too much energy. However, a hand reached out for him and he landed in Murasakibara's arms.

"Murasakibara-cchi…" The tall center look rather disconcerted, but nevertheless there was some feelings of concern in his eyes.

"Kise-chin… you need to me to help you…?"

"… thanks," Kise muttered as Murasakibara wrapped Kise's shoulder around his neck and lifted him up effortlessly.

"Hmm…" Murasakibara voiced causing Kise to turn his head as they trotted back to the sidelines. "That was a good match… I hadn't felt that pressured since Kuro-chin…" causing Kise's eyes to widen, but then tear up even more.

"Haha… indeed…" Kise smiled, his usual manner of speaking gradually returning. "It was... a good... match..." and tears started flowing down.

* * *

The players all went to the sides of the courts to their resting corners to rehydrate themselves, and then quickly dispersed to their own friends after shaking hands. Naturally, the players of the Team Black and Gold could not be more grateful and honored for the Generation of Miracles and Kagami having played such a wonderful match. Murasakibara released Kise beside Kagami who sat down with his head down clearly exhausted and drenched in sweat, and then proceeded to sit beside Kise and took out his favourite _Maiubo_ to snack on.

"Yo, Kise… That was… good…" Kagami panted, but smiling. He had really enjoyed that match despite how tough it was. Naturally, with Kise's strength, he would be quite the pickle during the Summer Interhigh if he had to face any of them.

"Hahaha… Kagami-cchi, you sure… improved a lot~" Kise panted heavily. The toll of Perfect Copy and ZONE had really drained them. At this point, the rest of the Generation of Miracles came to greet them and congratulate them.

"Kagami-kun, Kise-kun, Murasakibara-kun, that was fantastic," Kuroko said, smiling sincerely.

"Yeah, that was intense as hell…" Aomine agreed, and Midorima nodded.

"Good job, guys," Akashi complemented.

"Really, really good though!" Momoi said.

"Man… but Kise-chin sure is annoying… why have you gotten so strong…" Murasakibara complained as he crunched his snack, causing the rest to laugh.

"Anyway, I expected a three from you at the end, Kise, to get an instant upper hand," Aomine said. But before Kise could reply, Midorima interjected.

"Are you an idiot? My shots are that simple. If Kise were to make a three from the half-court or more, he would have completely drained all his energy, in fact." Kise nodded, and looked down.

"Oh well~ it's over anyway…"

However, on a more serious note, it was a one-on-two battle, and the players there knew that Kise would be a major threat if he was able to keep up and maintain an edge throughout the twenty five minutes.

"Anyway… our next match will be in the evening right…?" Kagami asked.

"Yes," Akashi explained, "After this 3 matches, there will be three teams remaining, so in the evening we will be playing again, or more specifically at night. We'll have enough time to rest by then."

"Then, wouldn't there be one team leftover?" Aomine asked.

"Well, the final match will be tomorrow. I heard there will be a rather big crowd, in fact," Midorima replied.

"Huhh~ Ain't that a little unfair..." Murasakibara sighed. "One team will be playing less…"

"Ah well, we can't do much about it either," Akashi concluded. "Anyway, the next match's about to start."

"Okay guys… the lottery machine have just chosen it numbers!" The announcer announced loudly, causing the crowd to turn to him.

"TEAM BLUE VS TEAM GREEN!"

Midorima vs Aomine. And of course, following that, Kuroko vs Akashi.

* * *

 **Hey guys, the conclusion for Match One, at 7.5k words, longest chapter by far hahaha. So yea... Murasakibara and Kagami won, which was kind of an obvious match kind of thing since it was 2 GOM vs one, although i tried to make Kise stronger and all. I get that for this chapter the continuity may be a little screwed, like Kagami's ZONE time limit and all, and the strength of Kise, but i'd like to delve into that more during the actual Interhigh. I'd also like to delve into the motivations of each character, which for this chapter was Kise: What's he fighting for? He did enter the ZONE in EXTRA GAME after all, so I want to explore that, which is why I made him enter for a fraction of a second and all. I also understand the battle between ZONE Kagami and Perfect Copy Kise is not that clear, but it's hard to say which is stronger ya know. I would like to think of Kagami having more raw potential and Kise having a more refined one, and him having the edge as he can copy 4 other skills. Sadly, because of Kise's loss, we don't get to see much of him copying other skills (apart from Aomine and Akashi), but i promise there will be more in the Interhigh.**

 **Also, hahaha this is a little bad of me, but ill try to equalise the wins of the GOM and Kagami and Kuroko by the end of the Interhigh in order not to cause too much controversy. After all, they all do have the talent. And next chapter will be Midorima vs Aomine! After that Kuroko vs Akashi. For these two matches, some of yall might say stuff like duhh akashi will obviously win, but I think its intersting to see how people like Kuroko capitalise on their strengths to match stronger opponents and stuff like that. Hahaha, i'll try to make thing as intersting as possible with my writing!**

 **Comment, rate and review!**


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